#character organization achieved time to tag the conversation participants
Text
twisted strings || lee donghyuck
➶ pairing: lee donghyuck x reader
➶ genre: angst. angst. JUST ANGST. twisted string soulmate!au, non-idol!au
➶ word count: 3.1k
➶ synopsis: you and donghyuck were one of the rare soulmate couples unlucky enough to be cursed by your own string
➶ warnings: y/n and donghyuck have somewhat of a toxic relationship, mentions of surgery, injuries, drinking, arguments, hyuck being selfish, character death!
➶ a/n: I am not romanticizing or support toxic relationships. This is purely fictional and if you do not like such topics, kindly move on. Have a good day.
➶ based on the song 'Evelyn, Evelyn' by Evelyn Evelyn
“Y/N.”
“Donghyuck.”
God makes mistakes sometimes. One of the greatest mistakes was the soulmate system. It is often believed that if you meet your soulmate before the age of 14, you were set for a doomed relationship. Unfortunately for you and Lee Donghyuck, you found each other when you both were only 5 years old. Upon meeting each other for the first time, the string tied to your pinkies had intertwined the both of your hands together, making it impossible for the two of you to physically separate.
The day you met Donghyuck was considerably one of the worst moments of your life. You were both trapped in each other's special bond. The string that was supposed to connect the two of you together became a cage, one that you could not get out of until death tears you apart. Soulmates were supposed to love each other but the twisted string binding the two of you together only made you desire for freedom even more.
“Why do we bother to stay?”
“Why are you running away?”
You two were soulmates after all. The twisted string was a rare phenomenon that only happens to one in 50 million people around the world. You’ve been sticking to each other for so long, you can’t stand being with each other considering you couldn’t have your own privacy anymore. When your parents took you to the doctor back when you were younger, the doctor suggested surgery to remove the bond.
But the risk was too high. Removing your string could result in one of you dying, your parents didn’t want you to go through with it. But as you grow older into your teenage years, your relationship becomes even more unhealthy. Donghyuck was beginning to think the risk of getting the surgery was worth it. While you, on the other hand, all you wanted was to get along with Donghyuck. You didn’t want to run away from your relationship, you wanted to fix it. But unfortunately, Donghyuck didn’t have the same mindset.
“Don’t you feel like severing?”
“Everything’s just come together at last.”
“We’re broken, why would you want to play?”
Donghyuck felt like this life was all just God’s game. An entertainment for him. He couldn’t bear the thought of living by your side at every second of the day, but yet again, you would always turn down his offer of getting the surgery. You were scared. He was too. You both wanted to be happy. Donghyuck felt like the time you spend alone with each other was a complete waste, he rather used his time to do other things like developing talents and doing things he used to enjoy like playing soccer or baking cookies with his mother.
You, however, felt like you should be more grateful for this opportunity. You’ve heard a countless amount of stories about those who lost their soulmates before they could meet them or those who never found their soulmate. You didn’t like the toxicity your relationship holds, but you couldn’t help but hope that maybe one day that things would change between the two of you.
After all, at some point in your lives. There was a time when the two of you actually fell in love with each other.
At least, that’s what you want to believe.
“We grew up closer than most”
“Closer than anything”
When you were younger, your foolish selves believed that the two of you would get through living a happy life living by each other’s sides for the rest of time. But of course, those are just nonsensical ramblings of young children. Nothing good lasts forever. You’d like to believe that Donghyuck loved you at some point in your lives, just like you loved him. Even if that love is no more, you couldn’t help but hope.
Life was playing an amusing game with the two of you. The longer you both spend time with each other, the more broken your relationship becomes. The more broken your relationship becomes, the stronger Donghyuck’s urge to cut you off from his life becomes. And as more time goes on, you start to think if things would be better if you get the surgery. If one of you dies, at least one of you will have a chance of living a happier life, right?
“Shared our beds”
“But wore different clothes”
Your parents didn’t know what to do when you first met. When you were younger they would arrange an organized schedule of who gets the two of you in their home for the week like a child with divorced parents. It wasn’t like your parents didn’t like you being together like this. Your parents treated Donghyuck as their own son and his parents treated you as if you were their own daughter. But you both knew that deep down, they’d like to have their own child back without their soulmates sticking to them like some kind of weird sloth.
“Talked about everything”
“Spoke about so many things”
You spent years of your life together talking about anything and everything in an attempt to heal your relationship despite the fact that you two knew that it was getting you nowhere. You often asked questions like “what shall we wear tonight?” or “what shall we do today?”
“Can we go ice skating?”
“But we just did that yesterday”
You were both different people with different personalities and different interests. Unlike Donghyuck, you had thrown away your hopes of ever achieving those big dreams of yours a long long time ago, but always felt nice to dream of what you could be if you weren’t so hopeless.
“Should we be firemen?”
“Can we be astronauts?”
You were often looked down upon by your classmates when you were still in elementary school. The teachers would always scold them for constantly making fun of your intertwined hands being stuck together by the string. They would always tell your classmates to be nice and to invite the two of you to play with them. But alas, children are children. They don’t understand what words and actions could do to someone else.
Often, the teachers would make you join in on their little game of tag or hide and seek. It was quite difficult for the both of you to participate, it wasn’t like the two of you were telepathic. You constantly spend the first few seconds arguing where to go or where to hide which ends the two of you being caught before you could even have a chance to actually have fun. And eventually, your classmates would ignore your presence if the two of you participated.
“What if they find us?” you asked one day while playing hide and seek with your peers, crouching down to ensure that your body is safely hidden. Donghyuck lets out a small scoff, outstretching his legs as he leaned his back against the wall with a heavy sigh before looking down at your intertwined bond. “They’re not looking anyway,” he shook his head.
These days, your conversations were always the same. Dull and monotonous. Filled with hopelessness and despair. Eyes filled with exhaustion and distress. Faces void of emotion as you both stared at the dull grey ceiling.
“Y/n.”
“Donghyuck.”
“Why do we bother to stay?”
“Why are you running away?”
“Don’t you feel like severing?”
“Everything’s just come together at last”
“We’re broken, why would you want to play?”
“Fill my glass,” Donghyuck ordered, making you reach your hand out to fill his glass with wine. At the age of nineteen, the love between the two of you was nonexistent. You both had to deal with the excruciating truth that you’re going to be stuck together forever. “Why are we weeping?” you muttered under your breath as you slumped against the sofa beside him. Donghyuck ignored you as he sipped his drink with an annoyed roll of his eyes.
“At your side”
“I feel like a ghost”
You never knew about this. But Donghyuck was always the one to wake up first every morning. And every morning, he couldn’t help but turn over to stare at you as you sleep. Knowing how creepy it is, Donghyuck couldn’t help but admire your content expression. The way your eyelashes hovered over your skin, the way your lips part slightly. He would never tell this to your face. But he loved waking up to see the innocence glossing over your sleeping state.
Despite the many arguments you two get into with each other on a daily basis, it felt nice to lay down in silence with the comforting thought of the two of you having your own peaceful moments every morning. But of course, as soon as you wake up, Donghyuck is back to looking at you as if you were the bane of his existence.
In retrospect, Donghyuck viewed you as someone who needs to get off of his back. Quite literally. He wanted you to let go of him, he wanted to live his own life where he doesn’t have to put up with you being constantly beside him. He knew you were his soulmate, but he didn’t know if he loved you or hated you. All he knows is that he just wants you to leave him be and have his privacy.
Everyday was just the same. There was nothing new to the two of you. Your days of living with each other always goes by the same questions over and over again.
“What shall we wear tonight?”
“What shall we eat today?”
“Do you think we’ll get married someday?” you asked him one day, looking at the loving couple across the street from you as you both stood in front of the bus stop side by side with equally emotionless expressions. Donghyuck took a small glance at you, unsurprisingly you were saying it with a hopeless expression. Why did you have to ask such a question when you know very well what the answer was going to be?
“We discussed this yesterday,” Donghyuck replied shortly, keeping his eyes on the empty road as people continued to walk past you. His eyes wandered to those who walked alone with hands in their pockets. Then his eyes wandered to those holding hands with their soulmates, gazing lovingly at them as if they were the brightest star in their eyes. Donghyuck then looked back at you, his half-lidded eyes scanning your broken figure that mirrored his own. Was he willing to marry someone as broken as he is?
“Should we be movie stars?”
“Will we be millionaires?”
But can someone broken still talk about dreams as if they still have hope in their lives? Donghyuck never knew what’s the point in these wishful conversations. It was just hurting the both of you even more as time went by. You knew conversations about the things you know you’ll never be was just getting your hopes up. But life seemed too dim for the both of you, you couldn’t help but hold onto these late night conversations as if it was the only thing keeping you grounded.
“I want to be famous.”
“They’re watching us anyway.”
Donghyuck had always wanted to be a singer since he was a child. He loved to sing and dance before he met you. His parents were ready to support him in his dreams, his future was bright as heaven’s gate when he realised he had actual potential of being a star. But that can’t happen. Not with you by his side.
A part of you thought that the reason Donghyuck had always hated you was because you ripped him away from his dreams and his own privacy. You couldn’t blame him for being angry at you. But you knew that deep down, he was also at fault, too. If the two of you hadn’t met all those years ago, you’d probably be in a much healthier and happier place by now.
You both would probably be in a better place by now if fate hadn’t decided to let you meet that day.
“We grew up so very close.”
“A parasite needs a host,” Donghyuck spat at you, venom and malice lacing his tone as he pushed away his plate of food aggressively across the table. It was another one of those arguments. You two were getting sick of each other. You were at a breaking point. Donghyuck was discussing about getting the surgery again and as usual, he snaps at you harshly whenever you decline the offer. But you couldn’t help but retort back at his snarl.
“I’m only trying to do what is best for us!”
“Well I never wanted this. I never asked for this. All that I want is some time to myself!”
“Donghyuck…”
“Just get away from me! Please just stop touching me! You’re always trying to be somebody else!”
Donghyuck believed that deep down you were just putting up a fake act. He believed that all this talk about you not getting the surgery for the sake of the both of your safety was all just buffoonery. He thought that you just want to see him live a miserable life along your side for the rest of your lives. He views you as some kind of parasite sticking onto his body.
He was too blinded by selfishness to see the good side in this situation you were both stuck in.
“I just realise I’m not alone.”
You were afraid. If you took the surgery, you were afraid that Donghyuck was going to die instead of you. He may not like you, but you didn’t want to live with the overwhelming burden that you killed your own soulmate, even if it wasn’t your idea to do the surgery. You didn’t want to live without Donghyuck either. You wanted someone to love. Unfortunately for you, Donghyuck didn’t want the same thing.
“Well you’re only scared of me.”
“But you never cared for me!”
“Why don’t you let me free?”
“Cause you never dared to be!”
Spewing insults and cries back and forth was all the only thing you’ve been doing the past couple of years. You were both tired. Tired of living like this. Living in misery and despair. You knew you weren’t going to be happy in this life, but you also knew you didn’t want to sacrifice Donghyuck just because he wanted it. In Donghyuck’s mind, all there is to think about was how life would be so easier if you cut the damn string off of your body. How everyone would be much happier if you just agreed to the surgery.
“Cause you never listen, you’re always insisting!”
“Just stop reminiscing!” ¦¦ “I’m just reminiscing!”
“I feel something missing.”
“I just want you here with me.” ¦¦ “I just want my privacy.”
“God, can’t we just get along!?” ¦¦ “God, won’t you leave me alone?!”
That was it. That was your breaking point.
You finally agreed to the surgery without hesitation, your eyes no longer held a single ounce of light and hope in them as you signed the papers willingly. Donghyuck couldn’t say anything else to you either. He finally got you to sign the papers and do the surgery but why didn’t he feel as ecstatic as he should be? Why was his heart still so empty? Why couldn’t he find the enthusiasm in him as you both got into your robes, preparing for the surgery.
You haven’t spared the slightest glance at him since the argument you two had the other night. But then again, why would you? You finally agreed to signing either yours or Donghyuck’s life to death, there was no need for you to feel anything about it. You prayed to God that Donghyuck would be the one to survive, no matter how bad he has treated you in almost the past two decades, you still prayed for his survival.
“Y/n.”
“Donghyuck.”
The doctors placed masks over your mouths, informing you that they were going to start the anesthesia with a concentrated expression on their face. Donghyuck looks over to you to give you one last look, his eyes becoming half-lidded when he sees your content face resting right beside him. The way your eyes slowly shut when the gas kicked in, he practically saw your hopeless pupils shining before his own eyes started to get droopy. For once in years, he squeezed your hand encouragingly in his, feeling the string tighten around your body as he does.
“Y/n.”
“Donghyuck.”
He felt your hand squeeze back softly, making his heart flutter for the first time in ages before he finally succumbs into a deep sleep.
“Y/n.”
“Donghyuck.”
As Donghyuck opens his eyes, he finds himself in a hospital room, A heart monitor placed right beside him, beeping loudly to signal the calming beating of his heart. He sat up slightly, his body feeling weak and sore. He examined his body, stitches and gauze were everywhere and all around his arms. The strings that he had gotten used to seeing wrapped around his body were nowhere in sight.
It worked. The surgery worked.
“Y/n.”
He was no longer stuck to your body anymore. He was finally able to live his life as freely as he wanted. He could hardly believe his own eyes as he pressed both of his palms against his face, pinching himself to see if this was just some kind of weird dream. He couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face. God, when was the last time he smiled like this.
He couldn’t wait to do the things he’s always wanted to do. He couldn’t wait to go home to his parents and see the baffled looks on their faces once they see him as a whole happy person again. He couldn’t wait to tell all his friends that he could finally drink with them without you getting on his back for drinking too much-
Wait. You. Where were you?
“Y/n.”
His head shot up, looking around to see if you were in the same room as he was. His heart raced when he saw the empty bed next to his. Have you gone home without him? Or did you wake up way earlier than he did? Why didn’t you wait for him to wake up? Where have you gone? Why weren’t you right next to him? He was supposed to be the first one to wake up to see the peaceful expression on your sleeping face. He was supposed to be the first one to tell you that this surgery would be the best decision you two have ever made.
The clipboard filled with data the doctor left on the table beside him had all the answers to his question. Donghyuck used a weak hand to grab the papers and set them on his lap, carefully picking each and every one of them up, his eyes quickly scanning the letters printed onto it. From what he can conclude, your soulmate string was cut off and donated to science. The surgery took about 4-5 hours and he had been resting for about two days.
He also concluded that you had died in the middle of surgery.
“Y/n.”
“Y/n.”
“...”
“Why didn’t we try to stay?”
“You wanted to keep running away.”
“Why did we agree to severing?”
“Everything’s over at last.”
“I’m broken. Let’s play this game again.”
if you haven’t noticed. Hyuck is in bold. Y/n is in italic. Both is both.
This was a new writing style I wanted to try out and it’s not my best work but I think it’s pretty good enough to post.
#NCT-WRITERS#neowritingsnet#neoculturecafe#neo-constellations#nct x reader#nct dream x reader#nct donghyuck x reader#nct dream haechan x reader#nct dream lee haechan x reader#nct dream lee donghyuck x reader#nct dream donghyuck x reader#nct 127 x reader#lee donghyuck x reader#lee haechan x reader#haechan x reader#donghyuck x reader#haechan scenarios#lee haechan scenarios#lee donghyuck scenarios#donghyuck scenarios#nct dream scenarios#nct scenarios#nct angst#donghyuck angst#haechan angst#nct dream angst#nct 127 scenarios#nct u x reader#nct haechan x reader#nct lee haechan x reader
197 notes
·
View notes
Text
VRF Website and Community
VRF Website and Community - Soft Opening Coming Soon!
I've been a little less active here in the last little bit, but have been working behind the scenes to build up the VRF website and planning around community-building. I'm just about ready to start opening the site to semi-public access and start inviting trusted people to the Discord within the next week! There is some information below introducing some of the content and features of the site and Discord server. Please contact me (Ask or email preferred) if you would like access - I recommend reading the rest of this post before you do, but it is not required.
If you’re looking to better understand BDSM and kink, participate in a community of rational, respectful, and conscientious kink practitioners, and contribute to protecting, uplifting, and helping others - while still enjoying some fantasies - you are exactly the type of person who would be a great fit for this space.
If you’re “just here for the porn”, this website and community are not going to be what you’re looking for. They are specifically a pushback against that very mentality, and the rampant toxicity and problematic discourse in the online BDSM/kink space, especially CNC kink, and your needs will be better met elsewhere. Same goes for those who are just out to get nudes, roleplay online, organize hookups, or find a submissive - there are other spaces geared toward that.
In the meantime, I'd like to explain what this all means to me, where VRF is headed next, and what factors I'm taking into consideration as I continue. This is going to be a fairly reflective post - almost like a letter of intent - but I'm putting it out there primarily for transparency and also for those of you who want some insight into my thoughts and process.
VRF - A Quick Recap
When I started VRF in 2015, I didn't really have a goal. I was just looking to curate the kinds of porn I enjoyed the most on Tumblr and occasionally added some captions that came to mind as I did - and accidentally cultivated a sizeable following. As the blog grew and began to have more interactions with others on the network, I realized that I couldn't stay in-persona all the time - not without sending a potentially dangerous message - so I started answering asks and giving advice out of character, as myself. These "real" interactions, as well as the reality checks that kept rolling in, set the tone for what VRF would become - and made me feel much more comfortable with running a blog featuring questionable content.
I stepped away from the blog and went on hiatus in 2016; I saw a sharp rise in hateful, bigoted, and violent voices online and no longer felt comfortable that my posts would remain firmly in the realm of fantasy for the majority of readers. Although the original @violent-rape-fantasies was terminated in 2019, I made a fairly complete backup of the entire blog before it went down. I returned in late 2020 to start again from scratch, try to rebuild my following, and reconnect with the community - that effort was terminated by Tumblr in 2021, leading me to the two blogs I currently have (@VictorRomeoFox-blog / @violent-rape-fantasies-2) and to create a self-hosted website containing the original VRF archives with major quality-of-life improvements to the Tumblr experience.
This process made me consider what my goals are for VRF, how I want to achieve them, and what promises I make to the community as part of that journey.
VRF - Mission and Values
VRF's mission is to be a safe, inclusive, and collaborative space that promotes affirmative consent, healthy relationships, and conscientious kink, where consenting adults can explore their kinks, enjoy fictional fantasies, and uplift one another without overbearing guilt or shame.
Let me quickly break some of this down:
safe: I want people to feel comfortable consuming and interacting with me and my content - not only the kinks and acts depicted in the fantasies, but in the entirety of the space that VRF projects, including knowing that their personhood, privacy, anonymity, and emotional safety are important to me.
inclusive: although I focus primarily on male-on-female scenarios, people from all walks of life are welcome so long as they are good citizens of the community and conscientious kink practitioners. This also means rejecting hate, bigotry, and willful ignorance.
collaborative: VRF is discursive, both in-persona and out-of-character; the content and direction I take is often influenced by the conversations I have with followers, the asks and submissions I receive, and the state of the community as I see it. I want to always be in conversation with the community to understand its needs and goals so that I can better meet them.
affirmative consent: as discussed in a previous post, I highlight affirmative consent because it centers around positive action as opposed to consent, which can be a passive state. I believe this is critical for conscientious kink.
healthy relationships: the relationships we hold shape who we are, who we become, and how we interact with the world around us. I believe that healthy relationships build healthier, happier lives - this concerns all relationships, from friendships to families to romantic or sexual partnerships. I have seen less emphasis in this community on relationships, and interpersonal interactions in general, and think that this is a major oversight.
conscientious kink: kink can be dangerous or harmful when not practiced with care and consideration - not just for physical health, but for mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. It requires reflection, introspection, and communication in order to form intentionality - the understanding behind what you do, how you do it, and why you do it.
reducing guilt: this is one of the concerns I get most often from followers - how to reconcile their guilt for enjoying consensual non-consent, and whether it is morally wrong or an indication that something is wrong with them. I believe that CNC, like most kinks, can be practiced in a conscientious way to reduce and mitigate the potential dangers, but that it requires consistent effort, education, and research.
Aside from these, I identified values which are important for me to maintain in order to meet the mission. Some of them are:
transparency: I try to be as transparent as I can, while maintaining my privacy and anonymity, so that people know that I have nothing to hide. I cannot build a safe space without building trust, and I can’t build trust without being honest and transparent.
leadership by example: if I am positioning myself as a resource and giving advice to others, I must embody the values I put forward and lead by example, not by words; otherwise, what I say is worthless and lacks substance.
data- and research-driven: I want to provide people with a deeper understanding of themselves and their kinks; while anecdotal information can at times be helpful, I want the things I posit to have weight and justification behind them. This means an intersection of data, research, and analysis around all of the factors involved, including moral philosophy, psychology, sociology, and biology.
care and patience: these kinks are difficult and hurtful to some people, and confusing or conflicting to others. I need to be caring, considerate, and patient in order for people to feel comfortable engaging with my content and interacting with me.
contextualized: these kinks and fantasies don’t exist in a vacuum and must be contextualized in order to remain conscientious of the relationship it maintains to the real world. This means that I don’t want fantasies misrepresented as reality or reality misconstrued as fantasy, and the onus is on me to ensure that followers are seeing both sides of the equation.
quality over quantity: I have a limited amount of time that I can dedicate to VRF work, and want to make the best possible use of that time. I want to focus on high-quality content, both in-persona fantasies and out-of-character advice, research, and resources, without worrying about how much or how frequently I’m posting. It also means that I care far less about the number of followers and viewers I have, and much more about whether I am cultivating the kind of followers that match my vision for VRF and its community.
There are other factors and values as well, but these are the biggest ones for me. They drive how I present myself, how I interact with the community, and what kinds of content I put forth.
VRF Website - Content and Features
What does the website allow me to do that I couldn’t on Tumblr?
No censorship, frustrating filters, or threat of termination - I can focus on my content without running into blockers at every turn, or worrying that I’m going to lose all my work without warning.
Better content controls, organization, and layout - I can group posts logically and have different ways for users to access and view them instead of being one monolithic stream of posts.
Tagging and search - I’ve tagged my archive with kinks, features, toys, actions, positions, locations, and more to make it easier to both find content that you want to see and avoid content that you don’t. The VRF site features granular search controls, including tag combinations, so you can engage with the site how you choose.
Random Post/Random Caption - sometimes, you’re in the mood to mix things up. Instead of seeing a temporally-sorted feed of posts, you can go to a random post or caption from the menu bar.
Clear disclaimers and view control - instead of my content being blended into a sea of posts, which creates difficulty in carving out that safe cognitive space for engaging with these kinks or necessitates rapid context-switching, all of my posts will be in one central repository with clear disclaimers where I have control over how things are viewed.
The VRF Archive - the content from the original @violent-rape-fantasies blog have been restored to the VRF website.
There are some downsides, of course - like the lack of network discovery, limited server space and resources, cost, maintenance, and effort. But the benefits greatly outweigh the additional overhead.
VRF Community
What’s the VRF Discord community all about?
This is a new idea I’m playing with - I’m not new to Discord or community management, but combining that with VRF is a new endeavor for me. Since I’m going to be shifting my focus from Tumblr to the VRF website, some of those network and community interactions from Tumblr will move to Discord instead, such as interacting with followers, taking requests, feedback, and suggestions, and delving deeper into kink philosophy, fantasy, and practice.
I’ve set up the Discord in a way that different sections can be partitioned - like general discussion, BDSM/kink discussion, CNC fantasies, member content (submissions), and so on. The different sections are accessible to different levels of membership and verification to maintain that safe, inclusive, and collaborative space. For example, agreeing to the rules and guidelines gives you access to the general discussion section; verifying your age gives you access to BDSM- and kink-related sections; and being an active and trusted member who contributes to the server over time gets you access to the private sections.
This will also be a much easier way to get in contact with me, and keep the majority of my interactions with the community in one place, instead of hunting across Tumblr messenger for both my accounts, Asks, Twitter, Discord DMs, Telegram, Kik, and email.
VRF - Next Steps and Future Work
In the next few weeks, the VRF website and Discord community will soft-open and move toward general opening. This is a new direction for me, but after assessing my priorities and goals, it is the solution best suited for what I want to achieve. I will continue to use Tumblr, but will likely be focusing the majority of my time on the website and Discord.
The mission and values I’ve identified leave quite a bit of room to explore various ways to express these kinks and share knowledge. I’m not hard-set on VRF being a blog with porn and captions, and could see changes or pivots in the future. I would love for this work to be able to generate some modest revenue in the future in order to cover basic operating costs, support survivors of abuse as well as kink education and safety, and commission custom content. As an aside, if you read all of this, please start your request for access with the word “potato” in all caps to let me know you got this far.
I also want to move toward a more ethical and sustainable model of captions and fantasies. My first step toward this is in creating gifs myself and fully crediting the source, which I started doing when I returned from hiatus. Concurrently, I am working with my partner, who is an artist, to develop illustrations and animations to accompany captions instead of commercial pornography - we’re still in the R&D phase for this, but hope to share some early content soon (including a fantasy and sketch that we’re working on to accompany a follower submission). Ideally, we would be able to collaborate with submitters and sex workers to create fully original, credited, and compensated content - but that’s a huge stretch goal for the future.
We are also considering other formats for fantasy and knowledge delivery, including a visual novel format or interactive media (i.e., games) if the art development turns out well and proves sustainable. We’re both fairly busy people in our personal and professional lives, and in situations where we have to maintain a fairly strict separation between kink involvement and our everyday lives, so carving out time for VRF work is challenging at times!
I look forward to seeing folks on the VRF website and Discord community soon!
22 notes
·
View notes
Note
I hope you don't mind me asking... How did you get followers? I want to start my own blog but I want to make sure I can reach audiences I want to reach. I don't have any friends who know I write, and honestly I'm not sure I'd want them to read my works anyway. I get embarrassed easily. It's much easier for me to talk to someone that I don't have a face for. Does that make sense? Probably not. But how did you start your adventure here?
I want to preface this with follower count can make sense, or it can’t. I’ve made friends with some of the most amazing, most talented writers who have less than a thousand followers. I’ve made friends with amazing, talented writers who have thousands of followers. I genuinely don’t know how to trick the algorithm into listening to you, haha, but just know that numbers don’t equal talent; popularity does not always equal skill. So please, even if you don’t have the high follower count of someone else, don’t let it discourage you from writing! Everyone starts somewhere, and everyone grows differently.
But, I’ve found that it all depends on who you write for, what you write, and how often you write.
Who you write for: Bakugou is one of the most popular characters. I truly didn’t know this when I entered the fandom, but it was really what got me started on the upward climb. I’m by no means a big blogger, lol, but I know that writing for Bakugou was what helped me out initially. He was originally the only character who I could write for because he was my favorite and I hadn’t really gotten too far into the show. I think the same goes for other fandoms - if you write for the more popular characters, who have more content in demand because they have more fans, you’re more likely to gain more followers.
DISCLAIMER: Do not let this keep you from writing for other characters who are less popular, if you prefer to write for them. Content is needed for all characters! I am desperate for some Sugawara content, but he’s not one of the more popular characters that people write for (see: Kuroo, Ushiwaka, Bokuto, Oikawa, Iwa, and Akaashi). If we only focus on the popular characters, the ones that get us the most growth, but those aren’t the characters we love, the content can seem disingenuous, if that makes sense. I got lucky by Bakugou being my favorite. But like, when I try to push out Kaminari content, I find that it’s a real struggle for me because I don’t necessarily vibe with Kaminari as a character. The same goes in reverse. If the minor characters have your heart, but you try to force out content for the popular characters, it can be tough to write and come across like you don’t really want to write it. Write who you want to write!
What you write: This is a really big deal right now, but I’m just gonna say it lol. NSFW gets more notes. I don’t say that to force you into writing NSFW content - I actually had never read/written NSFW content until this past March, and I’m 22, going on 23. Originally, when I decided to start writing, I wanted to be NSFW-free, but some stuff changed in life and in writing and I chose to make the change.
Also, I’ve found for each fandom, different things are more prevalent. For instance, the BNHA fandom seems to do a lot of AU’s and full length fics, but the Haikyuu!! fandom seems to do more traditional works that follow canon and then the content itself is mostly headcanons and short scenarios. I think you have to find what works for you and write it to the best of your ability. I suck at headcanons, I’ve never really been able to do them and they stress me out. So I stick to full length fics. I know this means I’ll do better in one fandom versus the other, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to start only doing headcanons just because it’s what’s popular.
DISCLAIMER: This does NOT mean that just because someone wrote 10k words of smut, that it’s better or more involved than your 10k words of fluff/angst/domestic/etc. writing. Unfortunately, there are horn dogs out there who are especially touch starved during quarantine. It doesn’t make anyone better or worse because they choose to write about being naked versus being clothed. Please don’t let this discourage you from writing SFW-only writing, as there are tons of people out there who are just as desperate for some comfort fics about cuddling completely clothed.
How often you write: When I first started, I had a lot more time on my hands and was able to pump out content much quicker. I grew pretty rapidly in a short period of time because I was able to consistently put out content. Since I’ve gotten more busy and my mental illness has reared it’s ugly head, I’ve not been able to write as much and I can tell my follower count growth had tapered off. But the pace in which you post content generally helps increase your follower count, because people know that you will continuously feed them with the goods! Sometimes it might be good to set a schedule so others know when you’ll be posting - say a new fic every Friday? Or sometimes it can be good to keep your followers engaged with thirst posts (SFW or NSFW), or specific nights where you do events that focus on a certain character or genre.
DISCLAIMER: DO NOT FORCE YOURSELF TO PUSH OUT CONTENT. Please be aware within your own self what your limits are. Just because one writer can sit at home and push out tons of short scenarios and drabbles during the day, but you can’t, doesn’t mean either of you are doing anything wrong. It just means that one person has a different availability than you. I don’t really do thirst posts a ton in the same respect that others do them, because I know that I’ll want to write a whole fic out of the couple of sentences that my followers might send in. However, there are many others within the fandom that can respond with a few paragraphs that take a few minutes to type out. It doesn’t mean that they’re better than me and I’m a horrible writer, it just means that in this area, they’re more skilled or have more time.
Also, don’t be afraid to tag people and send out DMs! I promise your writer idols are not nearly as scary as you think they are. And they’re probably just as excited to get a DM from you as you are to talk to them! I was really hesitant to reach out to anyone before, because I never really did much chatting in other fandoms, but the anime fandoms I’ve been apart of have been very kind and welcoming, and helpful! I made some of my closest friends because I tagged them in my works or I joined a server with them in it, or I read their stuff and reached out to them to fangirl over it. Don’t be afraid to reach out, even if you just keep the conversation focused on your writing, it’ll still be worth it in the end! The worst thing that could happen is they don’t reply or the conversation fizzles out. Either way, you will have made a connection, and blasted one another with some serotonin.
Remember to take breaks. Take a hiatus every once and a while! Take some time for yourself to recharge. If this begins to feel like a job, like an obligation, and you feel yourself dragging your feet just to put out content, please step back and reevaluate. This is a hobby, it’s supposed to be fun. Once it stops being fun, take a breather and reassess what you’re doing. Sometimes this means closing requests, sometimes this means opening requests, sometimes this means participating in collab fics, sometimes this means disconnecting entirely. This is just tumblr, in the end, and you should be able to take care of yourself first rather than pinning yourself into a corner to try and post content for the sake of your followers. In the end, everyone wants you to be happy and healthy, so you can put your best foot forward in life and in your hobbies. So please, for the love of everything, take a break every now and then. Disconnect, recharge, and regroup.
I also had a blog before this one, my main, so I’ve been on tumblr for eight year prior to this. I’m not going to even claim that I begin to understand how this hellsite works, but I will say that I’ve been writing on here for a while now, since way back to my band blog days. Eventually you just write what you want to write, and chat with your followers and your friends, and you’ll grow organically. When you start to pressure yourself over it, it can become like a cloud looming over you, and then when you don’t perform up to your preset standards, it might be a little disappointing. Follower milestones are cool to want to achieve and celebrate, but don’t pour all your focus into them. For the most part, I use milestones for celebration events to give back to my followers, or to set goals for myself like opening commissions! But they don’t determine my worth as a writer, because sometimes the tumblr algorithm is more giving to some rather than others.
Whew, this was a doozy. But I hope it helped! Some of these answers might come off a little crass, but I’m just trying to be honest. Don’t let anything deter you from doing whatever the hell you wanna do.
You wanna write that rarepair? DO IT.
You wanna write character x character? DO IT.
You wanna write about your Original Characters? DO IT.
Whatever it is you want to do, do it! And have a helluva time doing it 💕
16 notes
·
View notes
Text
27 - War
Characters: Damen/Laurent.
Tags: Several years post-canon; Laurent unearths a plot; Damen is so Done he’d make Nikandros proud; flirting husbands. [The prompt sounds dark, but the fic isn’t. Promise]. Written for @capri-month.
Without looking up from his papers, Laurent said, “Ambassador Sabinus is very handsome, don’t you think?”
A note: Archive Of Our Own Link here.
A note #2: I have received several excellent prompts that my fingers are itching to write. My inbox is still open, in case anything further takes your fancy.
It had been a lengthy day of diplomatic engagements, and the reception for the new ambassador from Asmea had lasted well into the night. Ambassador Sabinus was the youngest nephew of the Asmean King, a fiercely bright young man of no more than twenty-three. His retinue was small in number, but the five of them roused enough mirth, and downed enough wine, to equal the entire Artesian court.
Damen felt his energy falter around midnight. Although the revelry continued unabated around him, he struggled to keep his eyes awake as Councillor Itmar schooled him on the finer points of grain taxation. By two in the morning, Damen formally drew an end to proceedings, and weathered all of Laurent’s jests about old age. Laurent, for his part, had kept Sabinus company for most of the night.
Damen couldn’t have cared less about his lost youth. Shedding his chiton and climbing between the fresh sheets felt like sinking into a warm cloud. He turned onto his stomach, buried his face in the lavendar scent of the pillow, and stretched every muscle in his body as far as it would go. It felt delicious. He opened one bleary eye to look for Laurent.
Laurent was on the other side of the room, and hovered near his desk, sifting through a stack of papers in his long sleepshirt. It hung mid-thigh, and he had left the front unlaced. It opened wide around his neck and sat on him asymmetrically, the left side of it almost falling off his shoulder. Damen felt a useless stir at the sight of him, but it was far too late to do anything about it.
Without looking up from his papers, Laurent said, “Ambassador Sabinus is very handsome, don’t you think?”
He spoke with a practiced casualness that he reserved only for particular conversations. Damen had heard it enough times by now to recognize the gravity belying its seemingly indifferent tone. He lifted his head off the pillow, to properly examine him.
Damen was also just alert enough to recognize the trap masquerading as Laurent’s innocent question. The new ambassador had golden hair and eyes the colour of the ocean on a bright day. He wore his hair long, and it tumbled artfully down the front of his chiton, curling where it sat at his hips.
In short, he resembled exactly one another person in the court. The similarity had not been lost on anyone in the expansive room—and clearly, least of all on the person to whom the resemblance was borne.
But it was too close to morning to play lengthy games, so Damen asked him directly: “What do you mean?”
“At tomorrow’s tourney, during the wrestling, Sabinus will to announcing his participation. It will seem spontaneous, and I imagine the crowd will be dazzled, which is precisely what he hopes to achieve. Then he will challenge you to a match.”
It was a detailed prediction, and Damen resigned himself to a night spent unpacking it. He pushed the covers off himself with some difficulty, and sat up in bed. He said, “That’s a detailed guess, even by your standards,” and had a strong suspicion of what Laurent would say in response.
“It wasn’t a guess, Damen. I’ve intercepted his correspondence.”
“Of course you have.”
Laurent left his papers and unlocked a compartment to the left of the desk. He knelt, and when he rose again, he held in his hand a walnut box of ornate decoration. Damen watched him bring it to the bed and lay it on the sheets, and press a finger to something at the back of the box that he could not see.
A hidden compartment slid out, lined in crushed green velvet. It revealed a small stack of letters held together by a thin leather strap. The parchment was of a deeper hue and coarser texture than anything produced in Akielos or Vere, or indeed in Artes. He counted five letters in all, and the blue wax seal on each of them was visibly broken.
They had been married for six years now, and together for longer, and Damen had slept in this chamber for half that time. He had never seen that box before. He studied it carefully before looking back up at Laurent.
“How many other things in this room have hidden compartments?” He asked lightly.
“If I told you,” said Laurent, eyes dancing, “They wouldn’t be hidden compartments anymore.”
He took the letter at the top of the pile and offered it to Damen, who accepted it and stared down at the broken royal seal of the King of Asmea. The letter was unmistakably an original copy.
Damen said, “If you’re found in possession of this, you’ll start a war.”
“No one will know that it’s missing. Our royal brother in Asmea writes with an easily-imitated script, and his seal is simple to duplicate as well.” Laurent said, the corner of his mouth quirking. Damen had always found it endearing, how much he enjoyed his own intelligence. “I have the copies delivered, and the originals brought to me. You should read the one in your hand. Its contents might amuse you.”
Damen looked down and scanned the first few lines. And then he stopped, and blinked, and re-read from the beginning, just to confirm what he had seen. He finished the first page, and then skim-read the rest.
Flatly, he said, “This is all about me.”
Him, and only him. The letter was a detailed portrait of his habits and his preferences, and every mundanity of his day, laid out in detail that could only have come with the benefit of first-hand accounts. It listed everything from the names of the councils that he chaired, to the names of his most trusted advisors, to the frivolous matters of his preferred sports and breakfast preferences, and everything in between. At the very end of the letter, and of greatest concern to Damen, was a respectable outline of his typical daily routine.
None of the information itself was private, or indeed, particularly revealing. It was knowledge that was inherent to spending time at the Artesian court. But seeing it all collected together, meticulously organized, with all the care of a scholar towards a subject—that, more than anything, begged the question of its purpose.
“Does Sabinus mean to assassinate me?” Said Damen.
“No. I believe he means to seduce you.”
Damen went still. Laurent had said it with all the involvement of a man describing the weather.
In the moments that followed, Damen examined his own reaction. He found himself unable to decide whether assassination would have been a more merciful risk.
He felt his exhaustion, then, in the marrow of his bones. There was too much wine in his blood for this. He had lost count of how many turns the conversation had taken, and resigned himself to being led in whichever direction Laurent would take it.
“You can’t know for certain that he means to seduce me,” he said, although it came out as more of a hope than a conviction.
“I was rather hoping you’d say that. As a matter of fact, I can.”
This time, Laurent pulled up the whole pile of letters into his hand. He began flicking through them and settled on the third letter from the bottom, pulling it out with dramatic relish. He held it up in the air, rigid between two fingers.
It seemed that Laurent was rather enjoying himself.
“A number of your former lovers have been found, and questioned. With the information they’ve provided, our royal brother in Asmea has developed something of a library of your tastes, all ready for his nephew.” Laurent said, waving the piece of paper in the air. He arched a brow and added, “I must say—it’s most comprehensive. I learned a thing or two myself.”
Damen felt the colour as it spread across his chest, and up to his neck, and warmth as it washed over his cheeks. He reached out for the letter but Laurent pulled it away from him, and promptly filed it back amongst its brethren.
When he looked back up at Damen, his eyes were bright. “Oh, I don’t think you would have liked reading that one.”
“I’m almost beginning to hope for an assassination.” Said Damen. “What purpose can there be in seducing me?”
“I’m close to answering that. For now, I suspect that the ambassador is instructed to sow discord in the royal bed.”
”Yes, but to what end?”
Laurent paused and said, “I hear they’re building warships in Asmea.”
He fell quiet, then, but remained firm under Damen’s inquiring gaze.
Damen watched him carefully, and with a mounting sense of wonder. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, after all these years, that Laurent had unearthed a plot so shortly after it had been sown. The instincts honed in the youth had clearly not rusted in the man.
Damen said, “Are they foolish enough, to think they can come between us?”
“I can see a weak logic in the thought that Artes will only survive if we’re happy together.’ Said Laurent. And then—quietly, possessively: “But they don’t know how we are.”
He followed his declaration with a silence, and Damen did not interrupt it.
Laurent’s comfort with bare-faced declarations had improved, even though he still treated such private truths like diamonds, as things to be protected, and kept hidden from public view. When he did occasionally bring them out into the open air, the very act took something out of him.
Laurent busied himself with tidying the bundle of letters, and tying the thin leather strap around them. Damen watched the careful, delicate motions of his hands.
“Shall I decline his offer of a match tomorrow?”
“No. You’re going to accept it.” Said Laurent. He looked up, his guard newly eased by the talk of more practical matters. “I want you to fight him, naked in the Akielon style. I want you both to writhe against each other for as long as you can before besting him, and when you eventually help him off the floor, I want you to praise his valiant effort.”
“And where will you be?”
“Watching from my throne,” he said, “poorly concealing my displeasure.”
Damen said, suddenly pleased “You’re going to pretend to be jealous over me, in public?”
“I assure you, I won’t be pretending.”
Damen knew better than to give in to a smile, but he found his chest warming with pleasure at the thought of Laurent parading any degree of envy before the court. His affection was only ever practiced in private, his public displays limited to a brief brush of hands or a quiet word in the ear.
Damen also knew that he should be more concerned by the revelations about Asmea. He had lived long enough to know that the worst kind of enemies were those who played at being friends. But the truth was this: he couldn’t help where his attention fell.
He said, “You intend for him to think that his plan is working.”
“Only briefly. Just long enough to draw out the other players in his game.” Laurent answered. He paused and then added, “I must admit – I thought news of a looming war might disturb you more than it has.”
“They don’t have you on their side. I do. ” Said Damen. He allowed a bold streak of affection to colour his voice. “Let the King of Asmea try what he will. Sabinus can do his worst.”
Laurent placed the box on his bedside table, and failed to bite back his smirk.
“If I recall correctly from that letter,” he said, “I suspect you might enjoy what ‘their worst’ entails.”
Damen’s mind turned to it, and he found himself scowling—at the letter, and its forged twin, and all the documents that must exist in Asmea which led to their existence. His trust had been breached by lovers, and Damen resisted the urge to dwell on who might have spoken. It was the most personal and intimate of attacks.
“If you love me, you’ll burn that letter and every single one of its copies.”
“Oh, I will.” Laurent said, and his eyes danced so brightly that Damen knew a condition was coming. “I’ll destroy everything to do with it—after we’ve worked through its contents.”
185 notes
·
View notes
Text
How can you gift so on credits on imvu take a look at now
How To Get Absolutely free Credits On IMVU
IMVU, is an on the internet metaverse and website. Free Imvu Credits Hack No Human Verification. Properly, there is no want of worrying about a single point. The game is accessible in most countries, and this tends to make it a place exactly where the entire planet is meeting. Enter your username and pick the operating system you are applying. The most critical feature that produced this imvu credit tool probable is the daily limit of free credits.
To customize your character, you have to commit genuine revenue on IMVU credits. Nonetheless, there are improved techniques to earn IMVU credits without the need of getting to spend for them. We have a 100% functioning and up to date IMVU credits hack that permits you to customize your character how you like devoid of spending hundreds of dollars on accessories.
When you finish a quest, a individual obtain a superior tropical isle medal along with 50 imvu credits generator credit score that you just can easily practice to get merchandises from the Poptropica Retailer. Dependant on gameplay develop into well known for the reason that of the Diablo string as nicely as other hack and reduce activities gamblers will surely management a single of countless heroes (with a opportunity to replace involving them at will possibly) as they battle poor males, stage in place, comprehensive pursuits, uncover tools, combat bosses as nicely as knot with various participants. Moove becomes produced all about three dimensional chat regions precisely where persons go by way of and also chat abusing his or her customisable 3D avatar (containing webcam with say features).
Above all you should really know that the tool has the capacity to detect how a lot of credits you will produce into your bank account. Primarily based on things such as how numerous credits you previously bought and exactly how substantially occasions you may perhaps commit on IMVU, it can decide what each day quantity of absolutely free credits is most effective for your profile. For instance you will produce 9999 credits. If it worked the initially time, you can test the second time. If 9999 does not perform, then you will will need to attempt another subsequent one below it and so forth. It is crucial to have tiny amounts as this can make your account practically invisible for the IMVU servers. The error other imvu hacks creators do is that they provide hundreds and thousands of no cost credits. This tends to make their tools simple to be discovered and they're patched shortly following their open public release.
Hello everybody, now I am going to introduce a operating imvu hack 2017 edition. Credit generator makes use of a bug in the imvu page, so we gets credits for cost-free! Possibly you have wanted a new seeking for your character or new attributes? Open free of charge imvu credits hack setup file to run the software program. And try to remember one point do not use this tool a lot more than a single time in a day. This imvu credit generator tool is developed exclusive by hackgamenow. With the assistance of this imvu credit generator tool you can hack imvu credits. If you get into any trouble, just run the setup as administrator and relaunch. Our tool aims at saving you countless hours of mundane gameplay and lets you get straight to the enterprise as soon as the credits are transferred to your account.
Imvu has been always known as a game where you can't devote dollars on. For the reason that of the credits price tag tag, it is understandable why so many are staying away from credits. Having said that, using this new IMVU Generator this will no longer be an issue. You will be capable to get routinely totally free imvu credits devoid of paying any cash on them.
These credits can be held on line utilizing actual currency from IMVU. These IMVU credits generator can be moved back to IMVU to true currency for developer's accounts only. Similarly, promo credits are utilized to acquire gift pieces for additional. With the passing moment, that hitting, and beautiful cosmos of the IMVU been by accumulating a variety of exclusive functions from the competition for the users. Thus, stimulating and participating in a huge number of persons from various places about the planet. It has offered an enormous system to the customers to creatively explore, functionality with socializing with others all more than the world.
The gamers require not be concerned about the purchases with truly monetary expression, as there are numerous possibilities of getting characters from the up for of which exist focused on additional. So, you can tell IMVU is a village with participants all more than the planet where one particular can showcase their ingenuity and talents and get appreciation with people from the particular type.
youtube
Little Known Aspects To Free Yourself Of IMVU CREDITS
Personally i like both. I met my bestfriend who is my bestfriend in Genuine LIFE as properly. I wasn't expecting on meeting her at all. And saying that IMVU has immature adults and such and such is truly unfair since in secondlife and this is just me, i've had extra griefering that you can really envision. Each have their ups and downs and simply because IMVU is not a virtual globe and a virtual 3d chat the complete versus issue is invalid. Im not confident if some of you've have not been on there because 2008 but it improved alot to be sincere, they actually have mesh heads now, yea. And for me uploading mesh there was 10x much easier there and you didn't need to have all your i.d and credit cards all out there.
Right here are a couple of preferred strategies that IMVU users earn credits. The #1 technique is by finishing offers on IMVU's internet site. Then, you can also do surveys (which most persons hate performing), watch videos, invite buddies to play IMVU, which we described above, or get credits from everyday login rewards. However, most of the no cost methods to earn credits on IMVU are deliberately really hard, slow, or give miniscule amounts of credits, for the reason that at the finish of the day, they want you to be buying their credits.
Together, fast imvu credits our organizations intend to make the optimal model for utilizing crypto to accelerate engagement in between Creators and their customers in a higher-touch virtual landscape with an current economic framework. As we explore new techniques to drive mass adoption of cryptocurrency, there is the potential for a deeper integration of Kin that will unlock possibilities to invest the token inside of IMVU (not just the marketplace), and Kin could turn into a medium of exchange among Creators and their customers.
IMVU, the top 3D avatar social networking app with over 200 Million registered users, sought a partner that could achieve their Expense Per Payer (CPP) objective at scale. Considering that payments happen inside a desktop app that cannot be tagged, they necessary a partner who could optimize towards a Price Per Registrant goal, but eventually was being judged by cross-referencing order IDs to track new and returning customers.
IMVU has been referred to as a additional realistic sims game, and is appropriate for little ones age 13 and up. The avatars in the game have adult bodies, not teenage ones and the game has received criticism for overly suggestive outfits for specifically female avatars. Players can block anybody who is offensive to them, but there is no chat filter that stops randomly profane or explicit conversation. On the other hand, most younger players seem to enjoy their encounter on IMVU. However, it seems extra probably that people are merely spending time attempting to get in game currencies. The use of IMVU Credits hack can enable make this less difficult. Under are some of the in-game products and currencies, which will make you a lot more effective and common in the game.
I do not consider it is crazy for somebody to say one particular is far better than the other, if that's certainly how they really feel. It is just their opinion and we do not have to agree with it. For me IMVU is not a location I take pleasure in as a great deal. I discover sl to be far superior, in a lot of ways. I usually have, and I've noticed and been in each when neither of them looked as if they had a leg to stand on or would final. Even if I was only interested in a 3d chat space, IMVU would not be my initial, second, or even third option-for a handful of diverse motives. But that's just me, my opinion and what performs for me and my demands. Others, won't feel the similar. My not liking some location or plan doesn't make it terrible. Just makes it not excellent for me.
The most alluring feature of the IMVU hacking tools that are knowledgeable by the users is that it is absolutely free from any sort of expenditures that wants the true revenue. Any IMVU player can enjoy the most exceptional and unbelievable experience of the game and freely love the entertaining of imvu credits generators. One particular doesn't have to pay a single penny to get pleasure from the availability of the infinite delivery of IMVU and its credits and attributes. Mainly because of this trait of hacking tool, the IMVU gaming is immensely utilized, as it becomes uncomplicated, popular and accessible for the players.
0 notes
Link
ASTANA, Kazakhstan — I was the only visitor in Greece. As I walked through the tunnel of philosophers, eager young Kazakhs accosted me. “This is the Greek alphabet! It has 24 characters, and it was the original language of science. Here, please, come and take a photo by the sea.” They hustled me over to a Mediterranean backdrop. They outnumbered me five to one, I succumbed to relentless explanation.
It was a sunny afternoon on the second day of EXPO 2017, held on the outskirts of Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. The Expo boasts of being “the Olympics of economy, business, and culture,” a global event where each participating country showcases its national achievements in its own “pavilion” and crowds come to see pieces of the wider world. But today — at the first Expo ever held in a post-Soviet state — there weren’t any crowds.
***
The Expo was being held on the outskirts of Astana, near one of the city’s many construction sites, in a purpose-built park. Dubbed a “future city” but looking more like a vast conference center, the organizers claimed the site was self-powered, fueled by a mix of wind and water. Each pavilion takes up anywhere from one room to several floors in a giant ring of new buildings built to encircle a great sphere of black glass at the center, the Kazakhstan pavilion. Viewed from the west, the dome loomed over neighboring apartment buildings. “There’s two big ways to piss off the Kazakhs,” a delegate commented, “Mention Borat, or call the dome the Death Star.”
The obvious lack of attendees, by contrast, didn’t require mentioning. Greece wasn’t the only deserted pavilion. Many were barren of anyone except staff. A few of the big names — China, Germany, the United States — had clusters of a couple of dozen visitors at a time, but outside most nations I snaked my way through empty rail guards. On the avenues outside, two out of every three people were wearing lanyards. I eavesdropped on a conversation between two European delegates: “We have to plan for the worst-case scenario — if there are no visitors to our event.”
For years, the Kazakh organizers had been quietly ramping down the tallies of expected attendees at the three-month event; 5 million, 3 million, now 2 million. On opening day, the official figure was 10,000 visitors, and even that was a generous rounding-up. The next day, the crowds were even barer. In the Chinese pavilion, a CGI video showed a fly-through of busy Expo grounds; outside the street was empty save for a janitor having a smoke. Come dinner time, the empty plastic tables and giant windows of the second floor of the food court gave it the air of a provincial airport at 2 am.
At the last Expo I attended, in 2010 in Shanghai, the streets had been jam-packed; the event saw 73 million visitors. The last “specialized” Expo — the generally smaller events, like this one, held in between the quinquennial “world” Expos — was hosted by the coastal Korean city of Yeosu in 2012 and drew 8 million. Officially, Astana had sold 670,000 tickets — but there were serious doubts about how real many of those sales were. There were few doubts, by contrast, about the event’s $3 billion to $5 billion price tag.
So, what had the organizers of the Expo been thinking in awarding the event to Astana in the first place? And why had this remote capital asked for it?
The Expo used to be an international headline event, an opportunity for hosts and guest countries to show off for a mass audience. The first, in London’s custom-built Crystal Palace in 1851, embodied all the power and glory of Victorian Britain. The 1889 Exposition Universelle left the Eiffel Tower dominating Paris. The New York World’s Fair of 1939, “Building the world of tomorrow!” sung a science-fiction utopianism of atomic cars and robot servants. Through much of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union erected pavilions boasting of their social and technological supremacy.
But since the 1980s the Expo has largely dropped off the radar of the Western public. The events are still sanctioned by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) in Paris, but, in an era of easy communications and cheap flights, there’s less thrill in seeing a little bit of Spain or Thailand or Egypt on display. Meanwhile, private corporations have come to play a far larger role in Expo events, using it as an opportunity to show off products and woo potential clients. The U.S. government, for its part, is barred by a 1999 law from providing funds for its own pavilion, forcing it to depend entirely on corporate sponsorships.
In the developing world, however, the Expo remains an object of fascination. For the public in these parts of the world, there’s still a buzz associated with glimpsing faraway places and peoples; for governments, such events still qualify as a rare chance to show off for a sizable (if shrinking) international audience. As an editor at China’s state-backed Global Times in 2010, I was obliged to work on dozens of pieces about the Shanghai Expo and its importance to the country. (They were incredibly boring, true, but that’s state media; it could have been the Sex Olympics and it would still be leaden.)
It was inevitable that Kazakhstan would bid to host the event. With its massive natural resources, it has been the most successful of its Central Asian neighbors at picking itself up out of the ruins of the Soviet Union. Under autocrat Nursultan Nazarbayev, the former Communist Party boss who took over without trouble when the Soviet Union collapsed, the economy has grown steadily even as its press remains shackled and corruption rampant. Its international recognition has also remained low.
Since the 1990s, the country has been making an earnest bid to correct this latter deficiency by serving, whenever possible, as a host for the rest of the world. In recent years, it has been the site of everything from international football gatherings to meetings of religious leaders to Syrian peace talks.
Part of the country’s drive to stage such events is Nazarbayev’s own ego. At 76, he’s increasingly conscious of his legacy; one of Astana’s main buildings is the Museum of the First President of the Republic, a mausoleum erected even before his death. Many of the gatherings are pointless; the World Religious Congress, commented one interfaith expert, was “a complete waste of time, developed along the old lines of the Soviet Religion and Peace events, which were likewise a front for repressive regimes trying to look nice.”
But it’s more than that. Like other Central Asian states, outsiders barely know where Kazakhstan is or who the people are. Finding a national story to tell the rest of the world (or, to use business-speak, a brand to sell) has been important for Kazakh pride.
The line they’ve settled on is hospitality. While other Central Asian nations have largely failed to find a post-Soviet identity, the Kazakhs know what they’re pushing. Kazakhs are very, very keen to tell you how friendly they are. “The Expo is very important to us because Kazakhs are a naturally friendly people. And we want to welcome everyone,” said Tilik Zhunnunsova, an office manager in Astana. “Because Kazakhstan was a place of trade on the old Silk Road, guests are always welcome in Kazakhstan.” In the Kazakh pavilion at the Expo, an entire wall was dedicated to explaining the importance of being a good host.
That hospitality culture is real, but hardly unique. It’s a shared tradition with roots in Turkish and Arab nomadism throughout Central Asia and the Middle East, not a Kazakh creation. Kazakhstan has spent billions on these events — a high cost for a nation where nearly half the population still lives on about $70 a month. But as a national story for a young nation, it’s not a bad one. “The thing I really admire about the Kazakhstanis,” says Anthony de Angelo, the communications director for the USA pavilion, “is that at a time when everyone else is turning away from the rest of the world, they want to embrace it.”
***
Kazakhstan’s path to hosting the Expo was straightforward. It put in its bid in 2012, when the only competitor was Liège, in Belgium. As the previous Expo, Milan 2015, had also been in Europe — and as Kazakhstan was flush with oil money, while Belgium was in the middle of the Continent’s debt crisis — it was an easy win. The BIE boasted of this being the first Expo event in a post-Soviet nation.
Like the Olympics, the Expo has become a less tempting event in straitened times, a surefire money-loser that’s alluring mostly to those who want to shove to the forefront of the global stage. Kazakhstan almost took the 2022 Winter Olympics too, losing by just four votes to Beijing, the only other contestant left; every other city had dropped out due to popular objections or financial constraints.
But that’s where the first blunder was made. The natural location for the Expo should have been Almaty, the country’s largest city and former capital. Almaty is not only big, it’s also relatively easy to reach — not only for Kazakhs, but for Central Asian neighbors.
Since 1997, though, Kazakhstan’s government has been based in the new city of Astana, 600 miles north of Almaty in the high reaches of the country bordering Siberia and surrounded by nothing but the steppe. The city is a cross between a theme park and a construction site; shopping malls sit next to grand palaces (built, unsurprisingly, to host global events) while the shells of new apartment blocks rise around the edges. Nazarbayev threw oil money at famous architects like Japan’s Kisho Kurokawa and the United Kingdom’s Norman Foster to design the new city, and so it’s stuffed with gleaming monumental landmarks that look as though they’re about to transform and fight the Autobots.
Much of Astana is beautiful — but it’s also half-empty, and hotels are ludicrously expensive, driven up by the flow of all-expenses paid foreign delegations and provincial officials. “The city is frenetic,” the head of the USA pavilion, Joshua Walker, imaginatively told Forbes magazine. It was true that the opening ceremony produced a rare traffic jam: a long procession of SUVs with individualized license plates. But at best, Astana was going at a gentle amble; when I strolled through the city I frequently found myself alone, usually next to a gold-plated statue or a bush in the shape of a dinosaur.
There was also almost no effort to draw visitors from outside Kazakhstan. A desultory marketing campaign in Russia had looped in a handful of guests, but in Kazakhstan’s other neighbors, there was almost nothing. Air Astana promised free Expo tickets to anybody flying in; at both Almaty and Astana airports the machines issuing them were broken. I found a pair of lost Chinese tourists looking over a map in an Astana park (“I think we’re here, look, here’s the big glass pyramid.”) One of them, Mr. Tan, turned out to live a few miles from me in Beijing. A retired Communist Party official, he was an Expo enthusiast. “I loved Shanghai!” he said, delighted at the memory. “It had a little bit of so many countries! So I was so happy when I saw there was another Expo near China this year!” But they were the only ones. Being a host is wonderful, but it helps to invite guests.
On top of that, there was a palpable resentment toward the Expo from many Kazakhs. Plenty of people were proud of it — “We have been preparing for this for four years! Even little children know what the Expo is!” said Nikolai German, a Russian-Kazakh shop owner. But Kazakh social media was lit up with complaints about being forced to buy tickets, about pension funds being divested toward Expo funding, about the absurdity of spending billions on a vanity project when “half the country still shits in a hole in the ground.”
Then there was the corruption. The Kazakh government has already acknowledged that millions of dollars were stolen during the construction process. In part because of the fallout of squabbles among the country’s oligarchical elite, the official in charge of the Expo, the chief construction manager, and the Expo firm’s managing director were all arrested for embezzlement. This wasn’t surprising; Kazakhstan is a deeply corrupt country, and the Expo, like any big event, a playground for thieves. The Milan Expo in 2015 was wracked by corruption scandals, adding to the prevailing cynicism about the event.
“The government is running tramps through the turnstiles to keep the numbers up,” another resident of Astana told me confidentially, refusing to give me his name. (Kazakhstan ranks 157th in the world for press freedom, and dissenters are frequently arrested.) “Of course I won’t go!” proclaimed Talgat, a construction worker. “That’s for people like you!” He poked me in the chest with a calloused finger. “Not people like me.”
But maybe the biggest problem with attracting visitors was that the majority of the Expo was boring. The exhibition’s theme — “Future Energy” — meant an endless sequence of corporate videos about the sun (good) and wind (also good). The bigger the petro-state, the more time the pavilion spent talking about how committed they were to alternative energy. “Please come to the Shell pavilion,” one of the Kazakh staff implored me, “It is a very brilliant company.” Many of the videos ended with young women in diaphanous clothing turning to smile at the viewer; the Israelis one-upped this by having a live dancer — in diaphanous clothing — as a treat after you’d sat through their video.
More generally, hardly anyone’s heart seemed to be invested in the proceedings. The technology on display in the pavilions was an endless stream of the same ideas; over and over again, I pressed buttons to light up diagrams of sustainable houses. In some pavilions, budgets had clearly been rapidly scaled down; Venezuela was nothing but an empty room with some photos of the country on the walls. (“Fuck those guys for even coming, though,” another delegate commented. “How dare they even buy plane tickets when their country’s on fire?”)
The national slogans started to blur together: Land of Energy, Energy in the Air, The Power of Energy, Energy on the Move. “What is the source of infinite energy?” asked a voice-over at the USA pavilion. “It’s people. You, me, all of us, together.” I looked around to make sure we weren’t about to be processed as Soylent Green. Later there was a song. “There’s an energy moving through the air/It’s the land we love, it’s the land we care/There’s an energy in the world we do/and when we use it our dreams come true.”
Among all this, there were a few outstanding exceptions, like a great German pavilion full of things to push, pull, and hold, culminating in a stunning laser show. The designer of the British pavilion, Asif Khan, bearded, skinny, and deeply sincere, showed me around. “The whole landscape’s computer generated, down to the leaves,” he said, pointing to the 360-degree display around a central yurt made up of hanging graphene tubes. “And the weather’s randomized — but the more people touch the tent, the more the weather’s influenced by them.” I watched a Kazakh boy run his hand along the tubes, delighted as they lit up in the darkness. “Look,” Khan said, “If one Kazakh kid sees this, and he goes away wanting to be a scientist, or an engineer, if he takes something away from it — then my job’s done.”
Occasionally, you could see glimpses of the point of the whole affair, beyond the branding exercises. The American “student volunteers” took pictures with local visitors, snapping them by the pavilion’s “HOLLYWOOD” sign and chatting with them in Russian. “For a lot of Kazakhstanis, this may be the first time they’re meeting a real live American,” said de Angelo, the communications director. “And so we want to make it stick. But it was when we announced that they’d be a cowboy show that people’s faces at the TV event really lit up.”
A few nations had had the common sense to bring musicians. As Lithuanian folk dancers, adorned in pointy hats, twirled outside their pavilion, a crowd gathered to laugh, clap, and do-si-do with them. For a moment, the whole thing seemed worth it. Then I took a closer look at the crowd. Of the 20 people there, only four weren’t other delegates.
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
Key Audience Members or social media plan
A necessary part of a social media marketing strategy template is how to contact our audiences. Understanding the fundamental characteristics, motivational factors, awareness, social media platforms used, and just how audiences use each system are just a few of the factors that can come into play. Audiences need to be talked to in a way that is usually personable, not promotional.
Two styles of audience will be specified in your strategic plan. Principal audiences are those you want to targeted directly and that have a substantial relationship and connection to your customer. Secondary audiences are support and potentially viewed as influencers by the primary audience associates. With both types, outlining appearing audience members-or those who are definitely not on the client’s radar still, but could and perhaps need to be-is very useful.
Understanding people means painting a picture of the groups of individuals. Demographics can be a basic way to categorize several grouped individuals and involve the normal population data that are quickly collected, such as age, training level, ethnicity, and location. Throughout social media, the description involving audiences needs to be expanded a lot further. The more information we now have about our key viewers, the easier it will be to create effective and personalized communications to fit their motivational requirements and expectations.
This is where psychographics come into play, where we could categorize audiences based on their own attitudes, opinions, and beliefs. This higher-level approach to categorization narrows down the organizations into specific audiences depending on psychological characteristics and characteristics.
Human-to-human communication is what differentiates successful brands in social networking from those still having difficulties to build their community. Disregarding this principle is one point social marketers are past guilty of. Instead of pushing content material or playing the “pay for play” game, social networking strategists need to think of individuals as people. Effective crucial messages can help captivate the rand name voice as well as extend achieve to the community by providing a chance to participate in the conversation.
Knowing your audiences plays a substantial role in your ability to create key messages. Messages take some time, research, and a dash associated with creativity to make them efficient. This is probably one of the hardest duties you’ll have in social networking. Each platform has its own local community and brand voice, however this does not mean you should swing at all from your traditional as well as fundamental brand voice. Rather, you must craft the communications to align with your identity being a brand, and channel this character and voice to the suitable audience. The magic comes in existence when you provide the right tone of voice in the right channel towards the right audience at the most fortunate time. There are two types of crucial messages: primary and supplementary. Primary messages are wide statements that you want to connect to your key audience people. Each primary message needs to be simple, concise, and to the actual. This is not the time to elaborate. One sentence long, the primary meaning must capture what you want to perform and communicate to your people in a limited amount of time. For instance , Under Armour’s “Protect This kind of House” is a key meaning, and the tag line emphasizes constructing community.
If you want to expand along with elaborate on key messages, typically the secondary message comes into play. Supplementary messages provide additional proof to support the primary message. Utilizing facts, statistics, and additional info to build on the point layed out in the primary message, these types of messages can incorporate proof of what the client has already carried out on social media. There is no miracle number of secondary messages required to support your primary message, however, you should be thorough in your description of these points to avoid target audience confusion. A rule of thumb may be the more information you can provide to steer your audience members concerning actions they should take, the greater off you will be.
0 notes
Text
7 Inventive Hyperlocal Advertising and marketing Methods for Development
The world is changing into increasingly cellular.
Clients don’t simply seek for merchandise, companies or companies; they need to get these outcomes at arm’s size.
Customers need Google to make use of their location each time they seek for one thing, even when they don’t add location modifiers like “close to me,” addresses, and so on. In accordance with Google, these searchers have grown by 150 p.c.
Maintaining in thoughts this statistic, it is sensible for companies to depend on hyperlocal advertising.
What’s hyperlocal advertising?
Hyperlocal advertising is a brand new advertising strategy that focuses on a smaller variety of customers in a really particular space. In different phrases, it particularly targets folks in extremely localized and address-specific areas that need to buy services or products regionally.
Hyperlocal advertising is a brilliant focused type of area of interest advertising. Companies don’t must spend cash on nationwide campaigns to generate inbound visitors. Hyperlocal advertising might be targeted on one block and construct the muse for an genuine one-to-one relationship with prospects in a selected space. It appears much less overwhelming however in actuality a very robust aim to realize.
The principle aim of hyperlocal advertising is to extend foot visitors to retail shops and depend on near-me searches which have excessive industrial intent. When folks do hyperlocal searches, they search with the intent to buy.
For instance, if you wish to discover a new bestselling e-book, you’ll most likely kind “bookstores close to me which have this e-book.” By doing that, you need this e-book and know the place to purchase it now. You already know that 78% of native cellular searches lead to offline purchases. That is enormous!
Taking into account these numbers and statistics, on-line and offline companies are in a powerful place to make the most of hyperlocal advertising. Listed here are seven highly effective methods to make use of a hyperlocal advertising technique to develop your corporation.
1. Optimize your Google My Enterprise itemizing
For small enterprise house owners which have bodily places, it’s important to optimize their Google My Enterprise pages. Google My Enterprise is the spine of hyperlocal advertising.
Do you know that 33% of all searches on Google are associated to location? It’s best to deal with that and supply extremely detailed details about your corporation.
Listed here are some important issues you’ll want to embody in your Google My Enterprise itemizing:
A singular enterprise description that accommodates 750 characters to clarify what differentiates your small enterprise from rivals. You’ll be able to add related key phrases, and do it throughout the first 100 phrases. Keep away from key phrase stuffing.
Add as many as attainable high-quality pictures.
What you are promoting handle ought to be concise and in keeping with the handle in your web site.
Record your telephone numbers. Be certain that to offer an area telephone quantity to point out in native search outcomes.
Set your working hours and dealing days.
Decide up the first class that describes your corporation’s companies, merchandise, and objectives. That can allow you to enhance visibility for search phrases associated to your class.
Have plenty of good critiques. Many individuals that seek for your corporation verify critiques and a mean ranking. A lot of high quality critiques will lead to increased rankings and gross sales.
Professional tip:
Symbolize your corporation title in a correct method. That can assist customers simply discover you on-line. Many firms are making a mistake when utilizing the authorized enterprise title on Google My Enterprise. This will hurt your gross sales and rankings.
Individuals often use Latent semantic indexing key phrases (LSI) to search out your website. Add these key phrases, and also you get rating #1 within the Google Maps Rankings. Right here is an effective instance from Harm Trial Legal professionals, APC that we modified on GMB itemizing:
2. Create hyperlocal content material
Small companies which are inquisitive about leveraging the local people need to take part in discourse communities with the intention to foster sturdy relationships and generate income. Creating native content material can enhance rankings and arouse folks’s curiosity in a selected native space. To begin with, you’ll want to deal with what prospects need to devour, however not what you need to create.
You’ll be able to create various kinds of content material, corresponding to weblog posts, movies, pictures, infographics, or educational articles. The proper technique to have interaction and entertain prospects is to create on-line quizzes. You should utilize Survey Anyplace to make participating quizzes rapidly.
Analyze your content material and produce the kind of content material that may resonate along with your prospects probably the most. Typically it may be tough to achieve an viewers in a specified native space. You’ll be able to attempt to rent native abilities as a result of they higher know the pursuits and wishes of an area space you have an interest in.
You can too capitalize on particular occasions, landmarks, festivals or different factors of curiosity on a hyperlocal degree that may curiosity folks when on the lookout for specifically geographical space. Guarantee to share your native content material in your Google My Enterprise pages, Linkedin, Fb, and different social networks.
3. Make your contact information stand out in your website
Including any contact data in your web site makes it simpler for a possible buyer to contact you. It additionally makes your model extra open, contactable and tangible – which, in flip, can result in extra gross sales and conversions, and produce extra buyer satisfaction.
Guarantee to incorporate localized objects like monuments, native landmarks, well-known sights, public streets and different native factors of curiosity that permit folks to simply attain you on-line and join with your corporation. For instance, in New York folks may seek for “cafes close to the Empire State Constructing.” Together with location-based key phrases will make your corporation extra seen to these wanting round a selected space.
For native companies, it appears apparent so as to add your contact data to every web page of your web site within the header and the footer. Let prospects contact you proper in your web site with a click-to-call function. You can too embed a stay Google Map in your website. Right here is an effective instance from Legislation Workplaces of John Rapillo:
4. Add structured knowledge markup
When specializing in hyperlocal advertising, it’s important to categorize your corporation as native. Together with structured knowledge markup associated to your corporation in your web site pages will assist Google discover out as a lot data as attainable about your corporation.
Record completely different enterprise attributes, corresponding to handle, enterprise hours, telephone quantity, social hyperlinks, website emblem, and an official title. If applied correctly, it makes it simpler for your corporation to look in related geographic search outcomes. Be certain that to include the applicable markup for every location to assist folks discover your corporation simpler.
To enhance your search outcomes with schema markup, use the Structured Knowledge Testing software. The software helps detect attainable points and scale back the variety of errors and warnings in your Structured Knowledge tags.
5. Optimize for native search
Whereas creating a web site, every native enterprise has two important objectives: get discovered simply on-line by looking for their companies or merchandise, and convert web site guests into prospects. It’s not sufficient to optimize your website for search engine optimisation. Native companies should look past conventional rating elements and key phrases.
Your web site must look skilled on all ranges. Every part must be high-quality. Have you learnt that it takes lower than one second for customers to outline whether or not they like your website or not? Be sure that your website is simple to navigate. Don’t use plenty of navigation buttons. Lead folks down a path to resolve their issues and persuade them to buy your companies.
If you wish to enhance your native rating, you’ll want to enhance your demand era technique. You will need to analyze and optimize your on-page demand era so as of significance.
Construct a correct URL construction
Your URLs are the very first thing customers and Google will see. Google takes this into consideration when rating content material. Conduct key phrase analysis and embody the related phrases within the URL. For instance, in case you assist victims injured in automobile accidents in Los Angeles, you’ll want to create a selected web page to extend your hyperlocal rankings like “web site.com/car-accidents-los-angeles.”
In case you handle completely different pages that broadly resolve the identical subject, group your key phrases collectively to estimate the search quantity for particular matters. The SE Rating Key phrase Grouper offers a pleasant resolution for correct clustering.
Develop local-focused web page titles and meta descriptions
They have to be persuasive sufficient to make folks click on on them.
Profit from inner linking
Having the right linking construction in your posts helps Google higher perceive what you’re related to regionally and helps you rank higher organically. Every net web page ought to hyperlink to different pages in your web site. If in case you have a navigation hyperlink titled “Observe Areas” with a drop-down menu with an inventory of apply areas like “rideshare accidents,” “bicycle accidents” and “truck accidents,” every of those pages ought to result in the primary “Observe Areas” web page.
Use hyperlocal key phrases
Location-based key phrases are something that describes your location. You should utilize metropolis names, well-known streets, historic buildings, monuments, and different well-known sights. Embody these key phrases in product descriptions, firm profiles, headlines and textual content of your net pages.
6. Create separate touchdown pages for every enterprise location
In case you handle completely different places, it is crucial for native companies to have particular touchdown pages for hyperlocal functions. It is going to assist increase your look in search and enhance native rankings. Be certain that to develop personalised content material for every location. Embody location-based key phrases inside your content material and optimize your touchdown pages for these search phrases.
With out native touchdown pages, you possibly can’t enhance your corporation’ native rankings. In case you run your corporation from 100 a number of places, you don’t must design 100 separate touchdown pages. Attempt to decide up these areas you want to goal within the first place. For instance, Citywide Legislation Group made the part “Areas We Serve” with a drop-down menu of every location they serve the place these touchdown pages result in their homepage.
7. Goal customers with hyperlocal commercials
If you wish to get extra gross sales and better promoting ROI, you possibly can unite location-tracking options and geo-fencing. The final one helps you goal somebody in a really particular location primarily based on customers’ GPS. These type of paid advertisements are very efficient and might generate tons of certified leads. Listed here are 4 sensible methods to run your hyperlocal advertisements that may information folks to your retailer:
Goal prospects close to your location. Simply specify a distance out of your location and use your current buyer knowledge to launch your advert campaigns.
Goal particular person journey customers. Goal them wherever they’re on-line, particularly tourist-heavy locations, corresponding to airports, railway stations, sights, accommodations, and different locations.
Reap the benefits of particular geographic occasions. If there’s any particular convention or occasion in a metropolis the place your corporation is situated, you need to use that to focus on prospects in that space. That form of occasion can drive up demand for particular services or products and enhance gross sales.
Goal prospects round a competitor’s location. This can be a nice technique to present customers the advantages of buying with you and make them purchase in your retailer.
Bonus tip
When getting began along with your hyperlocal technique, it is very important know the way nicely you’re doing on an area degree. This implies monitoring person habits in your web site and analyzing visitors high quality from a number of sources, corresponding to Fb Adverts, Google Adverts, Instagram Tales, and so on.
Finteza holds true for that. The software offers perception into your native search expertise, visitors sources that lead to desired conversions, and present how nicely your native touchdown web page is changing primarily based on accomplished objectives. The extra detailed and correct data you’ll get, the more practical your hyperlocal technique might be.
Conclusion
Specializing in a selected space might be difficult however is significantly productive when every thing is completed correctly. Hyperlocal advertising is a technique to take your corporation to the following degree and get new potential purchasers. Implementing the methods listed above will make your corporation a staple in the local people.
Which hyperlocal methods have helped develop your corporation? Let me know within the feedback beneath.
Visitor writer: Irina Weber is a blogger and advertising supervisor of SE Rating. She creates and develops new advertising campaigns, writes articles about on-line advertising, social media, conversion optimization on widespread web sites like Jeff Bullas, WordTracker, Onblastblog and different authoritative web sites. If in case you have any questions, you possibly can attain her on Twitter.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '1844651365833554'); fbq('track', 'PageView');
Supply hyperlink
source https://webart-studio.com/7-inventive-hyperlocal-advertising-and-marketing-methods-for-development/
0 notes
Text
How to Launch on Product Hunt Like a Pro, Lessons from 17.2 Million Twitter Impressions, 4 Key Facebook Trends for 2019, and More!
Looking to catch up on the latest social media news, but short on time? We have you covered! This week (episode #117) we’re chatting about all of this and more.
For those launching a new product or tool or even project, Product Hunt can be a serious game-changer in terms of awareness, traffic, feedback, and so much more.
Twitter is a great place to repurpose content. If you’re creating content of any form: videos, blog posts, podcasts, etc., repurposing it across multiple channels is a great way to get the most bang for your buck.
The most important 2019 Facebook trends that businesses should keep their eye on to make the most out of their social media marketing, including augmented reality, Instagram Stories ads, and more.
Join 19,000+ weekly listeners for the Buffer podcast, The Science of Social Media, where we bring you the latest and greatest in social media marketing news, updates, stories, insights, and actionable takeaways.
Let’s dive in!
How to subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS
How to Launch on Product Hunt Like a Pro, Lessons from 17.2 Million Twitter Impressions, 4 Key Facebook Trends for 2019, and More! [Complete podcast transcript]
What follows is a lightly edited transcript of the conversation between Hailley Griffis and Brian Peters.
Part I: How to launch your product on Product Hunt like a pro
Part II: Do Twitter ads really work? Lessons from 17.2M Twitter impressions
Part III: Four key Facebook trends in 2019 for businesses and marketers
Part IV: Buffer SocialChat and this year’s exciting new campaigns
Brian: Hi everyone! I’m Brian Peters and this is The Science of Social Media, a podcast by Buffer. Your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and learning.
Hailley: Welcome to episode #117, I’m Hailley Griffis and this week we’re coming to you live from Nashville, Tennessee and we’ll be covering a ton of great updates and strategies in the social media world, including a channel that we haven’t talked about in the past here on the show, Product Hunt.
Brian: It’s awesome to be here with you in person, Hailley. We also have some fun insights from a Twitter Thread that was viewed over 17.2 million times and what it can teach us about the art of Tweeting, four Facebook trends businesses should know for 2019, new marketing campaigns, and more.
Hailley: Let’s kick off the show!
Part I: How to launch your product on Product Hunt like a pro
One channel that we haven’t talked about before here on the show, but one that can certainly be considered a social media channel among other things, is Product Hunt.
For those that have never used Product Hunt before, it’s a great community of creators, founders, developers, marketers, CEOs that curate the latest new products on the market, every day.
For those launching a new product or tool or even project, Product Hunt can be a serious game-changer in terms of awareness, traffic, feedback, and so much more.
Brian: Which is exactly why we figured we’d share some tips on how to launch your upcoming product, tools, or projects on Product Hunt with the best of them.
We really do believe that Product Hunt should be a central part of any marketing strategy moving forward. If nothing else, it’s a great platform to connect with other folks in your industry or niche.
I’ve heard of countless stories of collaborations and even acquisitions resulting from relationships formed on Product Hunt.
Hailley: We pulled a lot of these tips from a great article written by JotURL.
Getting into it, there are lots of things to think about with Product Hunt launches before, during and after the launch. Without going through every single one, we’ll focus on the most important here.
First is that Product Hunt is a community and it’s based on an algorithm.
Brian: In other words, if the reviews, the upvotes, and the comments you receive are by very active users and followed on the platform, their specific weight will be greater .
So before you ever launch your product, it’s important to build relationships, participate in the discussions, comment on the products you find most interesting and make friends with the founder and/or Maker of the products that are published daily.
And of course, be honest and always available, both on Product Hunt and in the different groups.
Hailley: The next thing to prepare before your launch is all of the images, logos, and messaging that you’ll be publishing on social media, email, etc.
Like we mentioned before, it’s super important to respond to all comments on your product, and so worrying about other things like messaging during launch day will be a distraction.
There’s a big list in the article on our blog of everything you’ll need, but the essentials to launch your product include a really good tagline, the names of the Makers.
Quick note on Makers: Every follower of every Maker on the day of the launch will receive a notification, so definitely take advantage of this feature.
Brian: Including Makers and Hunters that have a solid following is really key in launching your project with a bang.
Media wise, including a project video is highly recommended as well as photos, screenshots, and a thumbnail GIF. That’ll help your project to really pop.
Which leads us perfectly to the next part which is what to do with all of the traffic that you will (hopefully) receive on launch day.
Hailley: On the day of the launch you will receive a lot of traffic from a good amount of targeted and interested visitors….
So why not make the most out of this opportunity?
Installing a few website tracking pixels will be more than enough to make sure you don’t miss out. First, we use Google Tag Manager to install Google Analytics on our website and landing page.
And then, of course, we have Facebook Pixels installed so that we can gently retarget users in the future.
Brian: Those are both must-haves in my opinion when it comes to tracking, but if you wanted to take it a step further, a tool like Hotjar or CrazyEgg will allow you to understand what works and what does not on your site and where folks are clicking.
Now you’ve got your tracking installed it’s time to think about what you want people to do from a marketing perspective once they’ve signed up. This includes things like thinking through your website and product messaging as well as your email onboarding flows.
Hailley: Super important part of the launch, for sure.
You’ll also want to loop in your support team (if you have one). Prepare them with some questions they might get on the day of the launch so that they’re ready to go.
And then finally, you’re ready to launch!
On launch day, it’s all about generating good publicity and management.
Personally message everyone you know. Ask specifically for upvotes on Product Hunt, make sure to personalize them, and get ready to answer a lot of questions and support tickets.
Brian: Love it yeah we can’t stress how important it is to take time to answer everyone’s questions and continue to build relationships even on the day of the launch.
Doing each of the things we talked about today will ensure a smooth and successful Product Hunt launch.
Part II: Lessons from 17.2 million Twitter impressions
Hailley: We recently published an article on our blog titled: “Do Twitter Ads Really Work? A Surprising Experiment: 17.2 Million Views From a Single Twitter Thread.”
Based on the reactions from our audience we thought we’d chat about a few important points from the article on Twitter ads and what makes for a really good Tweet.
Quick background on the experiment, JotForm founder, Aytekin Tank, wanted to know if telling a brand’s authentic story would be successful across social media and other channels.
Brian: Tank had found success telling Stories on Medium in the past, but he wondered if a platform like Twitter could product the same results.
He explained, “Apart from its character limit, Twitter isn’t any different when it comes to sharing your authentic voice, It’s blogging in 280 characters.”
Which I think is a great way to think about Twitter. It’s not just sharing articles to links. It’s telling the story behind that link or behind your brand.
Hailley: The plan was simple:
Repurpose a successful Medium post into a Twitter thread and boost it with Twitter ads to test the limits of Twitter as a platform to spread Aytekin and JotForm’s message.
Looking at the Medium data, he was able to see which articles had resonated most with his audience and tell a story that he was sure would connect with people on Twitter:
He chose to create a Twitter thread based on his post titled: “Don’t listen to those productivity gurus: why waking up at 6am won’t make you successful.”
Brian: And the results?
The tweet generated 17,177,432 impressions on Twitter. Which is incredible!
Now the part we haven’t mentioned yet is that he spent $24,000 on promoting this Tweet.
Which is a lot, don’t get me wrong. However, the Tweet generated more than 4,000,000 impressions organically, which is about 27% percent of the total reach. So still super impressive in its own right.
Hailley: There are a couple of lessons here from this experiment.
One is that Twitter is a great place to repurpose content.
If you’re creating content of any form: videos, blog posts, podcasts, etc, repurposing it across multiple channels is a great way to get the most bang for your buck.
But repurposing doesn’t just mean copying and pasting a link over to Twitter.
If you want to be successful, you need to think about how you can tell each story natively to the platform you’re publishing on.
Brian: Absolutely.
Two is that a Twitter thread can help you to achieve multiple goals at the same time.
Impressions and engagement are awesome — especially when you’re quite new to the content marketing game.
But when you use a Twitter thread, you’re able to feature multiple types of content within your tweets and achieve various goals.
For example, Tank’s tweet received more than 1.1 million impressions and over 35,000 clicks, helping to drive traffic back to the original post on Medium.
Hailley: And finally, number three, Twitter is a great place to start a conversation.
With any highly shared tweet, you’ll always get a few trolls pop up here and there, but if you look past this, you’ll realize that Twitter is still an incredible place to start a conversation and build relationships.
Following Aytekin’s thread, he received plenty of questions about JotForm and how the business operates. This enabled him to build new relationships with people he previously wouldn’t have reached.
Part III: Four key Facebook trends for businesses in 2019
Brian: We’re getting towards the end of 2018 which means you’re either one, ramping up to end Q4 off with a bang, or two looking forward to a big 2019. Or both. Either way, it’s a good place to be in.
And in that spirit, we thought we’d share some of the most important Facebook trends for 2019 that you should be keeping your eye on to make the most of your social media marketing strategy and results.
Starting with Augmented Reality Ads.
Hailley: In 2019, we’re going to see a shift to brands looking to build an even deeper connection with users by helping them interact with, and visualize, different products and experiences within the Facebook and Instagram platforms.
And Brian, this is particularly relevant as our marketing team has been experimenting with the Facebook Oculus VR headset over the last week or so.
I can absolutely see shopping in augmented and virtual reality becoming a huge success for brands that sell their products on social media.
Brian: I couldn’t agree more, Hailley.
I was a little hesitant before we started using the Oculus, but I have to say that I’m all in. I now understand why VR gets so much hype. I can’t wait for the future.
And another trend to keep an eye on for 2019, and we’ve talked about this one here on the show a bunch, are Instagram Stories ads. We’ve seen a ton of success, meaning high interaction rates and low cost per clicks.
Hailley: Facebook Stories Ads will really start to enable brands to create new experiences for via the platform’s Stories option.
And remember, Facebook Stories hasn’t taken off the way Instagram Stories has, but this type of full-screen creative is very popular right now, and Facebook Stories ads will provide more options to reach people across both platforms.
So definitely keep an eye on Facebook Stories moving forward.
Brian: Yeah I’m a big believer that Facebook Stories will be one of the hottest advertising channels in 2019 for brands.
Alrighty, another trend to know for 2019 are the Facebook Page Reviews being updated to Recommendations.
We talked about Facebook creating more features in-app for small businesses, similar to companies like Yelp and Google, and it’s important to take advantage of all of these.
Hailley: Exactly, so if you haven’t updated your Facebook page in a while, we highly recommend going into your settings and just making sure you have all of your information filled out and the bells and whistles enabled.
And another great trend, or more of an update from Facebook, is that they’re moving into helping businesses with their creatives more.
For example, Facebook recently launched a new Video Creation Kit which enables you to turn your existing photo assets into mobile-optimized videos. These easy-to-use templates include text options also.
Brian: That’s a good one.
Yeah I was creating an ad the other day and I saw that option in Ads Manager. It was super easy to use and I must admit, it worked pretty well.
So basically what we’re saying here as well is that video ads are absolutely still trending through 2019.
And that’s it. If you keep those four trends in mind you will be well ahead of the game as a business on Facebook and Instagram in the coming year.
Part IV: Buffer SocialChat and exciting new campaigns
Hailley: Totally.
Alright to end the show, we have a few fun updates for everyone on the Buffer front.
First, really excited to introduce a brand new free tool from us here at Buffer called SocialChat.
Buffer SocialChat lets your customers start conversations with you on your website, and continue them privately, right where they feel comfortable, via Messenger and Twitter DMs. It can be enabled with just a couple of lines of code. No software or other tools needed!
Brian: Super excited about that one. Lots of chat tools these days are so complicated and so we wanted to make it easy for businesses to get up and running without too much hassle.
We also have tons of fun campaigns coming your way in the near future. We’re celebrating Small Business Saturday with Mailchimp, Square, and WooCommerce, we have State of Remote Work and State of Social in early 2019 and, well, we might have one more surprise for you in just a few weeks.
Hailley: We won’t say too much now, but we will say that we’re excited about the Stories format.
Very excited.
Brian: Yes. I can’t wait to announce that Stories surprise here on the show. Stay tuned!
Hailley: Thank you so much for tuning in to the Science of Social Media today. The show notes for this episode are now available on the Buffer Blog at blog.buffer.com with a complete transcript.
If you ever want to get in touch with me or Hailley, we’re always here for your on social media using the hashtag #bufferpodcast. You can also say hi to us anytime and [email protected]
Brian: Yup, we’d love to hear from you!
Wishing everyone a wonderful and prosperous holiday season in the next few weeks and months. It’s my favorite time of year and I know it’s a big one for businesses. We’ll keep bringing your shows that help you rock it on social media.
Until next Monday, everyone!
How to say hello to us
We would all love to say hello to you on social media – especially Twitter!
Hailley on Twitter and Hailley’s Website
Brian on Twitter and Brian’s Website
Thanks for listening! Feel free to connect with our team at Buffer on Twitter, Buffer on Facebook, our Podcast homepage, or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.
Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!
—
About The Science of Social Media podcast
The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing tactics from brands and influencers in every industry. If you’re a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you’re sure to find something useful in each and every episode. It’s our hope that you’ll join our 19,000+ weekly iTunes listeners and rock your social media channels as a result!
The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.
Want more content like this?
More than 45,000 marketers and small business owners subscribe to our newsletter to receive our blog posts and exclusive email-only content.
Which emails would you like to receive from us? You can select both if you want.
An email for every new Buffer blog post
Weekly email newsletter with new posts and curated content
How to Launch on Product Hunt Like a Pro, Lessons from 17.2 Million Twitter Impressions, 4 Key Facebook Trends for 2019, and More! posted first on http://getfblikeblog.blogspot.com
0 notes
Text
How to Launch on Product Hunt Like a Pro, Lessons from 17.2 Million Twitter Impressions, 4 Key Facebook Trends for 2019, and More!
Looking to catch up on the latest social media news, but short on time? We have you covered! This week (episode #117) we’re chatting about all of this and more.
For those launching a new product or tool or even project, Product Hunt can be a serious game-changer in terms of awareness, traffic, feedback, and so much more.
Twitter is a great place to repurpose content. If you’re creating content of any form: videos, blog posts, podcasts, etc., repurposing it across multiple channels is a great way to get the most bang for your buck.
The most important 2019 Facebook trends that businesses should keep their eye on to make the most out of their social media marketing, including augmented reality, Instagram Stories ads, and more.
Join 19,000+ weekly listeners for the Buffer podcast, The Science of Social Media, where we bring you the latest and greatest in social media marketing news, updates, stories, insights, and actionable takeaways.
Let’s dive in!
How to subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS
How to Launch on Product Hunt Like a Pro, Lessons from 17.2 Million Twitter Impressions, 4 Key Facebook Trends for 2019, and More! [Complete podcast transcript]
What follows is a lightly edited transcript of the conversation between Hailley Griffis and Brian Peters.
Part I: How to launch your product on Product Hunt like a pro
Part II: Do Twitter ads really work? Lessons from 17.2M Twitter impressions
Part III: Four key Facebook trends in 2019 for businesses and marketers
Part IV: Buffer SocialChat and this year’s exciting new campaigns
Brian: Hi everyone! I’m Brian Peters and this is The Science of Social Media, a podcast by Buffer. Your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and learning.
Hailley: Welcome to episode #117, I’m Hailley Griffis and this week we’re coming to you live from Nashville, Tennessee and we’ll be covering a ton of great updates and strategies in the social media world, including a channel that we haven’t talked about in the past here on the show, Product Hunt.
Brian: It’s awesome to be here with you in person, Hailley. We also have some fun insights from a Twitter Thread that was viewed over 17.2 million times and what it can teach us about the art of Tweeting, four Facebook trends businesses should know for 2019, new marketing campaigns, and more.
Hailley: Let’s kick off the show!
Part I: How to launch your product on Product Hunt like a pro
One channel that we haven’t talked about before here on the show, but one that can certainly be considered a social media channel among other things, is Product Hunt.
For those that have never used Product Hunt before, it’s a great community of creators, founders, developers, marketers, CEOs that curate the latest new products on the market, every day.
For those launching a new product or tool or even project, Product Hunt can be a serious game-changer in terms of awareness, traffic, feedback, and so much more.
Brian: Which is exactly why we figured we’d share some tips on how to launch your upcoming product, tools, or projects on Product Hunt with the best of them.
We really do believe that Product Hunt should be a central part of any marketing strategy moving forward. If nothing else, it’s a great platform to connect with other folks in your industry or niche.
I’ve heard of countless stories of collaborations and even acquisitions resulting from relationships formed on Product Hunt.
Hailley: We pulled a lot of these tips from a great article written by JotURL.
Getting into it, there are lots of things to think about with Product Hunt launches before, during and after the launch. Without going through every single one, we’ll focus on the most important here.
First is that Product Hunt is a community and it’s based on an algorithm.
Brian: In other words, if the reviews, the upvotes, and the comments you receive are by very active users and followed on the platform, their specific weight will be greater .
So before you ever launch your product, it’s important to build relationships, participate in the discussions, comment on the products you find most interesting and make friends with the founder and/or Maker of the products that are published daily.
And of course, be honest and always available, both on Product Hunt and in the different groups.
Hailley: The next thing to prepare before your launch is all of the images, logos, and messaging that you’ll be publishing on social media, email, etc.
Like we mentioned before, it’s super important to respond to all comments on your product, and so worrying about other things like messaging during launch day will be a distraction.
There’s a big list in the article on our blog of everything you’ll need, but the essentials to launch your product include a really good tagline, the names of the Makers.
Quick note on Makers: Every follower of every Maker on the day of the launch will receive a notification, so definitely take advantage of this feature.
Brian: Including Makers and Hunters that have a solid following is really key in launching your project with a bang.
Media wise, including a project video is highly recommended as well as photos, screenshots, and a thumbnail GIF. That’ll help your project to really pop.
Which leads us perfectly to the next part which is what to do with all of the traffic that you will (hopefully) receive on launch day.
Hailley: On the day of the launch you will receive a lot of traffic from a good amount of targeted and interested visitors….
So why not make the most out of this opportunity?
Installing a few website tracking pixels will be more than enough to make sure you don’t miss out. First, we use Google Tag Manager to install Google Analytics on our website and landing page.
And then, of course, we have Facebook Pixels installed so that we can gently retarget users in the future.
Brian: Those are both must-haves in my opinion when it comes to tracking, but if you wanted to take it a step further, a tool like Hotjar or CrazyEgg will allow you to understand what works and what does not on your site and where folks are clicking.
Now you’ve got your tracking installed it’s time to think about what you want people to do from a marketing perspective once they’ve signed up. This includes things like thinking through your website and product messaging as well as your email onboarding flows.
Hailley: Super important part of the launch, for sure.
You’ll also want to loop in your support team (if you have one). Prepare them with some questions they might get on the day of the launch so that they’re ready to go.
And then finally, you’re ready to launch!
On launch day, it’s all about generating good publicity and management.
Personally message everyone you know. Ask specifically for upvotes on Product Hunt, make sure to personalize them, and get ready to answer a lot of questions and support tickets.
Brian: Love it yeah we can’t stress how important it is to take time to answer everyone’s questions and continue to build relationships even on the day of the launch.
Doing each of the things we talked about today will ensure a smooth and successful Product Hunt launch.
Part II: Lessons from 17.2 million Twitter impressions
Hailley: We recently published an article on our blog titled: “Do Twitter Ads Really Work? A Surprising Experiment: 17.2 Million Views From a Single Twitter Thread.”
Based on the reactions from our audience we thought we’d chat about a few important points from the article on Twitter ads and what makes for a really good Tweet.
Quick background on the experiment, JotForm founder, Aytekin Tank, wanted to know if telling a brand’s authentic story would be successful across social media and other channels.
Brian: Tank had found success telling Stories on Medium in the past, but he wondered if a platform like Twitter could product the same results.
He explained, “Apart from its character limit, Twitter isn’t any different when it comes to sharing your authentic voice, It’s blogging in 280 characters.”
Which I think is a great way to think about Twitter. It’s not just sharing articles to links. It’s telling the story behind that link or behind your brand.
Hailley: The plan was simple:
Repurpose a successful Medium post into a Twitter thread and boost it with Twitter ads to test the limits of Twitter as a platform to spread Aytekin and JotForm’s message.
Looking at the Medium data, he was able to see which articles had resonated most with his audience and tell a story that he was sure would connect with people on Twitter:
He chose to create a Twitter thread based on his post titled: “Don’t listen to those productivity gurus: why waking up at 6am won’t make you successful.”
Brian: And the results?
The tweet generated 17,177,432 impressions on Twitter. Which is incredible!
Now the part we haven’t mentioned yet is that he spent $24,000 on promoting this Tweet.
Which is a lot, don’t get me wrong. However, the Tweet generated more than 4,000,000 impressions organically, which is about 27% percent of the total reach. So still super impressive in its own right.
Hailley: There are a couple of lessons here from this experiment.
One is that Twitter is a great place to repurpose content.
If you’re creating content of any form: videos, blog posts, podcasts, etc, repurposing it across multiple channels is a great way to get the most bang for your buck.
But repurposing doesn’t just mean copying and pasting a link over to Twitter.
If you want to be successful, you need to think about how you can tell each story natively to the platform you’re publishing on.
Brian: Absolutely.
Two is that a Twitter thread can help you to achieve multiple goals at the same time.
Impressions and engagement are awesome — especially when you’re quite new to the content marketing game.
But when you use a Twitter thread, you’re able to feature multiple types of content within your tweets and achieve various goals.
For example, Tank’s tweet received more than 1.1 million impressions and over 35,000 clicks, helping to drive traffic back to the original post on Medium.
Hailley: And finally, number three, Twitter is a great place to start a conversation.
With any highly shared tweet, you’ll always get a few trolls pop up here and there, but if you look past this, you’ll realize that Twitter is still an incredible place to start a conversation and build relationships.
Following Aytekin’s thread, he received plenty of questions about JotForm and how the business operates. This enabled him to build new relationships with people he previously wouldn’t have reached.
Part III: Four key Facebook trends for businesses in 2019
Brian: We’re getting towards the end of 2018 which means you’re either one, ramping up to end Q4 off with a bang, or two looking forward to a big 2019. Or both. Either way, it’s a good place to be in.
And in that spirit, we thought we’d share some of the most important Facebook trends for 2019 that you should be keeping your eye on to make the most of your social media marketing strategy and results.
Starting with Augmented Reality Ads.
Hailley: In 2019, we’re going to see a shift to brands looking to build an even deeper connection with users by helping them interact with, and visualize, different products and experiences within the Facebook and Instagram platforms.
And Brian, this is particularly relevant as our marketing team has been experimenting with the Facebook Oculus VR headset over the last week or so.
I can absolutely see shopping in augmented and virtual reality becoming a huge success for brands that sell their products on social media.
Brian: I couldn’t agree more, Hailley.
I was a little hesitant before we started using the Oculus, but I have to say that I’m all in. I now understand why VR gets so much hype. I can’t wait for the future.
And another trend to keep an eye on for 2019, and we’ve talked about this one here on the show a bunch, are Instagram Stories ads. We’ve seen a ton of success, meaning high interaction rates and low cost per clicks.
Hailley: Facebook Stories Ads will really start to enable brands to create new experiences for via the platform’s Stories option.
And remember, Facebook Stories hasn’t taken off the way Instagram Stories has, but this type of full-screen creative is very popular right now, and Facebook Stories ads will provide more options to reach people across both platforms.
So definitely keep an eye on Facebook Stories moving forward.
Brian: Yeah I’m a big believer that Facebook Stories will be one of the hottest advertising channels in 2019 for brands.
Alrighty, another trend to know for 2019 are the Facebook Page Reviews being updated to Recommendations.
We talked about Facebook creating more features in-app for small businesses, similar to companies like Yelp and Google, and it’s important to take advantage of all of these.
Hailley: Exactly, so if you haven’t updated your Facebook page in a while, we highly recommend going into your settings and just making sure you have all of your information filled out and the bells and whistles enabled.
And another great trend, or more of an update from Facebook, is that they’re moving into helping businesses with their creatives more.
For example, Facebook recently launched a new Video Creation Kit which enables you to turn your existing photo assets into mobile-optimized videos. These easy-to-use templates include text options also.
Brian: That’s a good one.
Yeah I was creating an ad the other day and I saw that option in Ads Manager. It was super easy to use and I must admit, it worked pretty well.
So basically what we’re saying here as well is that video ads are absolutely still trending through 2019.
And that’s it. If you keep those four trends in mind you will be well ahead of the game as a business on Facebook and Instagram in the coming year.
Part IV: Buffer SocialChat and exciting new campaigns
Hailley: Totally.
Alright to end the show, we have a few fun updates for everyone on the Buffer front.
First, really excited to introduce a brand new free tool from us here at Buffer called SocialChat.
Buffer SocialChat lets your customers start conversations with you on your website, and continue them privately, right where they feel comfortable, via Messenger and Twitter DMs. It can be enabled with just a couple of lines of code. No software or other tools needed!
Brian: Super excited about that one. Lots of chat tools these days are so complicated and so we wanted to make it easy for businesses to get up and running without too much hassle.
We also have tons of fun campaigns coming your way in the near future. We’re celebrating Small Business Saturday with Mailchimp, Square, and WooCommerce, we have State of Remote Work and State of Social in early 2019 and, well, we might have one more surprise for you in just a few weeks.
Hailley: We won’t say too much now, but we will say that we’re excited about the Stories format.
Very excited.
Brian: Yes. I can’t wait to announce that Stories surprise here on the show. Stay tuned!
Hailley: Thank you so much for tuning in to the Science of Social Media today. The show notes for this episode are now available on the Buffer Blog at blog.buffer.com with a complete transcript.
If you ever want to get in touch with me or Hailley, we’re always here for your on social media using the hashtag #bufferpodcast. You can also say hi to us anytime and [email protected]
Brian: Yup, we’d love to hear from you!
Wishing everyone a wonderful and prosperous holiday season in the next few weeks and months. It’s my favorite time of year and I know it’s a big one for businesses. We’ll keep bringing your shows that help you rock it on social media.
Until next Monday, everyone!
How to say hello to us
We would all love to say hello to you on social media – especially Twitter!
Hailley on Twitter and Hailley’s Website
Brian on Twitter and Brian’s Website
Thanks for listening! Feel free to connect with our team at Buffer on Twitter, Buffer on Facebook, our Podcast homepage, or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.
Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!
—
About The Science of Social Media podcast
The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing tactics from brands and influencers in every industry. If you’re a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you’re sure to find something useful in each and every episode. It’s our hope that you’ll join our 19,000+ weekly iTunes listeners and rock your social media channels as a result!
The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.
Want more content like this?
More than 45,000 marketers and small business owners subscribe to our newsletter to receive our blog posts and exclusive email-only content.
#mc_embed_signup .email {margin-bottom: 20px;} input.button {background-color: #fff; color: #2c4bff; border-color: #2c4bff;} input.button:hover {background-color: #2c4bff; color: #fff} div.mc-field-group input {background-color: #fff; border-color: #2c4bff;} ::-webkit-input-placeholder {font-family: Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; color: #2c4bff;} :-moz-placeholder { /* Firefox old */ font-family: Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; color: #2c4bff;} ::-moz-placeholder { /* Firefox new */ font-family: Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; color: #2c4bff;} :-ms-input-placeholder {font-family: Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; color: #2c4bff;}
Which emails would you like to receive from us? You can select both if you want.
An email for every new Buffer blog post
Weekly email newsletter with new posts and curated content
Thank How to Launch on Product Hunt Like a Pro, Lessons from 17.2 Million Twitter Impressions, 4 Key Facebook Trends for 2019, and More! for first publishing this post.
0 notes
Text
Best Site To Buy Instagram Likes
The Best Advice For Your Social Media Marketing Plan
Social media is absolutely. A company can be tweeted by you, take a look at with the Facebook page on your dentist and even message that an old buddy in precisely the exact same moment. Think about adding a page for your company if you end up checking your networking accounts frequently. This guide will reveal how you can enjoy increased vulnerability through networking marketing that is social.
YouTube can be a fantastic tool for bringing people. YouTube can bring in visitors that are new these folks can observe your clips for find a feeling of what you're advertising. When you're selling into a market, It's simpler to raise sales, and is inclined to purchase your products, since you've piqued their curiosity.To assist you attract traffic, you need to promote your website. What is great about market networking websites is they can deliver you plenty of visitors that is targeted. If the market website is modest, it may deliver you quality traffic that are more inclined to buy something since they have an interest in your product.
To make learn how to write attention grabbing headlines. It doesn't matter how great your products or bits are unless your headline is great enough to draw a reader. Facebook lovers are currently skimming inside their feed over articles. Can worthy of a look stand out?Connect your site by placing a share button to Linkedin. Due to its character, Linkedin has consumers that are people with influence that have incomes that are higher, meaning lots of clients to invest in your products and solutions. With over 100 million individuals it's a fantastic chance utilizing media to advertise your company.
You Can Now Buy Instagram Followers, Likes and Comments
Use RSS feeds. All these people have the articles enter their Google Reader account when your feeds and to subscribe to a feed are printed. This makes your articles available within an easy-to-access way to the clients. Create the button to register easy to recognize, so the process requires no attempt on the part of those.When utilizing media Attempt to collaborate with businesses and people. If they discuss your articles or connect to your articles, you're being subjected to a brand-new set of followers and supporters. Return the favor and link for their content. The more people who relate to your societal and articles networking articles, the better off you are.
Tell people how you're progressing when you upgrade your websites. Write an guide and link to it for instance, in Twitter. Make sure you provide people who have supported you thanks and speak about your experiences. Folks would share this type of article.Learn what your alternatives are on those websites before beginning in networking. Do not squander your time. Learn about social media sites that are distinct so you may use them. Maybe one site is a recipient of all your attempts and so reaches the vast majority of individuals.
Tag your posts on Twitter each to improve your subsequent. So that consumers may follow what pertaining to this 24, hashtags are utilized to collect groups of tweets pertaining to the topic. Wisely pick and watch out which you believe that your target audience will enjoy.Produce articles by interviewing an expert in something associated with your products. Post your interview and discuss it. This is. Ensure that you decide on an interviewee and ask questions that are pertinent.
To ensure that all posts that you create are displayed on your business LinkedIN page set up your accounts. You're ready to place something, and it reveals as upgraded in LinkedIn. This will let you save time and you will appreciate more exposure.You won't have consequences. Networking strategies that are Great take the time to operate. Assembling a massive market other as well as Twitter networking networks won't happen. Let folks know they can accompany you .
If you post over those 3 occasions, make confident you are currently posting something intriguing and distinctive, but restrict the amount of times you post.Use websites to promote exceptional offers. If they understand this is a means to get access Folks may wish to enjoy your FB page. Social networking has to be regarded to get info and also to be involved with you and your own brand and products.To provoke action and feedback on your networking marketing that is social, run surveys with questions. Facebook has a feature for this. Polls go a viral in societal media but function as conversation starters along with followers and your readers. It can yield treasure troves of data you may use to target your own demographics.
Likes On Instagram Can Improve Your Brand's Engagement Numbers
In reference to networking, never give up and remain inspired. As soon as you've got a group of followers, then quantity and your visitors of followers will grow. It may take to construct a following that is fantastic and make the most of the advantages for your small business and develop marketing approaches that are creative.As you can see, it is easy to begin your networking marketing efforts. By keeping ahead of trends and modernizing your advertisements, you can appreciate success from your marketing campaigns. You're one step nearer to planning effective and advanced advertising by reading this guide.Norms and the guidelines in regards to websites are constantly evolving, and that means you require to concentrate on creating.
It could be tempting to flood your websites with articles that is useless, but it's much better to take the time required to set up a new. This article can help you discuss your networking marketing effort that is social .Make an open discussion where you allow clients to participate in your process. You'll be amazed by how well your client base will be able to help you brainstorm a concept, make the"blueprint", and determine the very best implementation of this thought. Whenever you have this sort of input from your clients, it's safe to presume that they will buy when started.If you are going to optimize your networking content's possible you require a widget. By Possessing a widget on your website, followers are given a method.
Additionally, it may help your own content is readily shared by your readers.Your websites site ought to get content. The active men and women using social networks are used to regular upgrades and should you are unable to provide themyou may be putting your company at a critical disadvantage. Attempt to provide updates a couple of times.It doesn't matter how great your products or bits are unless your headline is great enough to draw a reader. Facebook lovers are skimming over several articles inside their feed. Can worthy of a look stand out?There are individuals who will post with the intent of causing trouble in your networking pages. Maintain a professional attitude and remove the articles.
Should they have a valid concern with your small business, be respectful and consistently keep a professional dialog.Facebook makes it quite simple for followers for one to discuss what you post. If people comment about something that you post, something shows up in that individual's feed that's view-able for their pals. Encourage individuals to engage and participate with one another.Just, a couple decades back, tablets and smart phones didn't exist at a mass-produced and publicly accessible form. Keep a watch out for the newest technology so you are much better prepared for the adjustments to your advertising.
You need to produce a Youtube station to post reviews of your products along with videos. It is possible to set your account up in order for your videos are submitted right off on particular social networks. This will help save you time and keep you from needing to upgrade a website.It's vital that you place your ads where they'll attract the maximum attention. If your advertisement isn't highly visible and reachable, then the visitors and attention it will create will be weak consequently.Ensure that your blog postings appear within your LinkedIn page using its site feed function. You can place something, and it reveals as upgraded in LinkedIn. You are able to avoid spending time by submitting on your own blog and for both LinkedIn and you'll receive exposure.The amount of followers is that a dimension of your achievement in networking marketing.
Buying Instagram Followers Is Cheap And Easy
Big businesses with names that are iconic will get followers because folks enjoy their product. Smaller businesses with no iconic titles there the amount of followers, your organization has is a direct connection to how effective your interpersonal networking marketing is performing.Social networking can be a fantastic way to learn about the marketplace for a new or existing product. Your supporters might enjoy helping you find that which new products or services that your clients want. Doing this can provide you a much clearer idea about your needs, needs and motives of your intended audience.When advertising your company on social networking websites including Twitter and Facebook, attempt to speak like a"individual" instead of a"company". Individuals using these websites are searching for private interaction. You'll get an advantage if it's possible to incorporate a number of this into your advertising campaign.Think about hiring a freelance writer to make interesting content to your tweets, Facebook webpages, and blog articles.
This will make it possible for you time to concentrate your energies on developing your small business, and it's particularly significant if writing isn't one of the very best abilities. You still need to provide the subjects and proofread everything until it's posted.Ensure that your blog articles contain some visual amusement. Having nothing but text is excellent if you are just a writer but many folks like pics and movies. You're able to give audiences something by placing in videos, graphics or music attractive. Do not do much but create a wonderful balance of images and text.Use plenty of articles that is excellent whenever you're establishing your Facebook page.
There's nothing worse than finding no info and visiting a company page. Simply take some opportunity to answer.1 idea for the articles on your own networking pages would be to put some videos that are fantastic. When you've got a movie that individuals find funny or informative, there's a possibility your audiences may pass these around.Knowing the principles of advertising is crucial if you're going to create a sustainable business. It's easy to receive a bulge but growth is needed if your business would be to flourish. The information above will help you begin.
0 notes
Text
A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence
A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence
Posted by AnnSmarty
When was the last time you saw a video on YouTube? I bet you've seen one today. YouTube is too huge and too popular for marketers to ignore.
If you don't have a YouTube channel, now's the time to start one.
If you have a channel and you never got it off the ground, now's the time to take action.
This article will take you through the process of setting up your YouTube presence, listing steps, tools, and important tips to get you started and moving forward.
1. Define your goals
If your goal is to become a YouTube star, you might be a bit late to the party: it's really hard to get noticed these days — too competitive. Stardom will take years of hard work to achieve because of the number of channels users have to choose from.
Even back in 2014, when I was reading about YouTube celebrity bloggers, one quote really stood out to me:
“We think, if we were coming to YouTube today, it would be too hard. We couldn't do it.”
That’s not to say, however, that you cannot achieve other, more tangible goals on YouTube. It's an excellent venue for business owners and marketers.
Here are three achievable goals that make more sense than fame from a business perspective:
1.1. YouTube for reputation management
Here's one thing about reputation management on Google: You’re never finished.
Even if your reputation is fabulous and you love every single result that comes up in the SERPs for your business name, you may still want to publish more content around your brand.
The thing is, for reputation management purposes, the more navigational queries you can control, the better:
YouTube is the perfect platform for reputation management. YouTube videos rank incredibly well in Google, especially when it comes to low-competition navigational queries that include your brand name.
Furthermore, YouTube videos almost always get that rich snippet treatment (meaning that Google shows the video thumbnail, author, and length of the video in the SERPs). This means you can more easily attract attention to your video search result.
That being said, think about putting videos on YouTube that:
Give your product/service overview
Show happy customers
Visualize customer feedback (for example, visual testimonials beautifully collected and displayed in a video)
Offer a glimpse inside your team (show people behind the brand, publish videos from events or conferences, etc.)
1.2 YouTube videos for improved conversions
Videos improve conversions for a clear reason: They offer a low-effort way for your customer to see why they need your product. Over the years, there have been numerous case studies proving the point:
An older study (dating back to 2011) states that customers are 144% more likely to add products to a shopping cart after watching the product video
Around 1 in 3 millennials state they have bought a product directly as a result of watching a how-to video on it
This Animoto survey found that almost all the participants (96%) considered videos "helpful when making purchasing decisions online"
Wistia found that visitors who engage with a video are much more likely to convert than those who don't
That being said, YouTube is a perfect platform to host your video product overviews: it's free, it offers the additional benefit of ranking well in Google, and it provides additional exposure to your products through their huge community, allowing people to discover your business via native search and suggested videos.
1.3 YouTube for creating alternative traffic and exposure channels
YouTube has huge marketing potential that businesses in most niches just cannot afford to ignore: it serves as a great discovery engine.
Imagine your video being suggested next after your competitor's product review. Imagine your competitors' customers stumbling across your video comparison when searching for an alternative service on Youtube.
Just being there increases your chances of getting found.
Again, it's not easy to reach the YouTube Top 10, but for specific low-competition queries it's quite doable.
Note: To be able to build traffic from inside your YouTube videos, you need to build up your channel to 10,000 public overall views to qualify to become a YouTube partner. Once approved, you'll be able to add clickable links to your site from within your videos using cards and actually build up your own site traffic via video views.
2. Develop a video editorial calendar
As with any type of content, video content requires a lot of brainstorming, organizing, and planning.
My regular routine when it comes to creating an editorial calendar is as follows:
Start with keyword research
Use question research to come up with more specific ideas
Use seasonality to come up with timing for each piece of content
Allocate sufficient time for production and promotion
You can read about my exact editorial process here. Here's a sample of my content roadmap laying out a major content asset for each month of the year, based on keyword research and seasonality:
For keyword and question research I use Serpstat because they offer a unique clustering feature. For each keyword list you provide, they use the Google search results page to identify overlapping and similar URLs, evaluate how related different terms in your list are, and based on that, cluster them into groups.
This grouping makes content planning easier, allowing you to see the concepts behind keyword groups and put them into your roadmap based on seasonality or other factors that come into play (e.g. is there a slot/gap you need to fill? Are there company milestones or events coming up?).
Depending on how much video content you plan to create, you can set up a separate calendar or include videos in your overall editorial calendar.
When creating your roadmap, keep your goals in mind, as well. Some videos, such as testimonials and product reviews, won't be based on your keyword research but still need to be included in the roadmap.
3. Proceed to video production
Video production can be intimidating, especially if you have a modest budget, but these days it's much easier and more affordable than you'd imagine.
Keeping lower-budget campaigns in mind, here are few types of videos and tools you can try out:
3.1 In-house video production
You can actually handle much of your video production in-house without the need to set up a separate room or purchase expensive gadgets.
Here are a few ideas:
Put together high-quality explanatory videos using Animatron (starts at $15/month): Takes a day or so to get to know all the available tools and options, but after that the production goes quite smoothly
Create beautiful visual testimonials, promo videos, and visual takeaways using Animoto ($8/month): You don’t need much time to learn to use it; it's very easy and fun.
Create video tutorials using iMovie (free for Mac users): It will take you or your team about a week to properly figure out all its options, but you'll get there eventually.
Create video interviews with niche influencers using Blue Jeans (starts at $12.49/month)
Create (whiteboard) presentations using ClickMeeting (starts at $25/month): Host a webinar first, then use the video recording as a permanent brand asset. ClickMeeting will save your whiteboard notes and let you reuse them in your article. You can brand your room to show your logo and brand colors in the video. Record your entire presentation using presentation mode, then upload them to your channel.
3.2 How to affordably outsource video production
The most obvious option for outsourcing video production is a site like Fiverr. Searching its gigs will actually give you even more ideas as to what kinds of videos you might create. While you may get burned there a few times, don’t let it discourage you — there are plenty of creative people who can put together awesome videos for you.
Another great idea is to reach out to YouTube bloggers in your niche. Some of them will be happy to work for you, and as a bonus you'll be rewarded with additional exposure from their personal branding and social media channels.
I was able to find a great YouTube blogger to work for my client for as low as $75 per video; those videos were of top quality and upload-ready.
There's lots of talent out there: just spend a few weeks searching and reaching out!
4. Optimize each video page
When uploading your videos to YouTube, spend some time optimizing each one. Add ample content to each video page, including a detailed title, a detailed description (at least 300–500 characters), and a lot of tags.
Title of the video: Generally, a more eye-catching and detailed title including:
Your core term/focus keyword (if any)
Product name and your brand name
The speaker's name when applicable (for example, when you post interviews). This may include their other identifiable personal brand elements, such as their Twitter handle
Event name and hashtag (when applicable)
City, state, country (especially if you're managing a local business)
Description of the video: The full transcript of the video. This can be obtained via services such as Speechpad.
A good readable and eye-catching thumbnail: These can be created easily using a tool like Canva.
Use a checklist:
5. Generate clicks and engagement
Apart from basic keyword matching using video title and description, YouTube uses other video-specific metrics to determine how often the video should be suggested next to related videos and how high it should rank in search results.
Here's an example of how that might work:
The more people that view more than the first half of your video, the better. If more than 50% of all your video viewers watched more than 50% of the video, YouTube would assume your video is high quality, and so it could pop up in "suggested" results next to or at the end of other videos. (Please note: These numbers are examples, made up using my best judgment. No one knows the exact percentage points YouTube is using, but you get the general idea of how this works.)
That being said, driving "deep" views to your videos is crucial when it comes to getting the YouTube algorithm to favor you.
5.1 Create a clickable table of contents to drive people in
Your video description and/or the pinned comment should have a clickable table of contents to draw viewers into the video. This will improve deep views into the video, which are a crucial factor in YouTube rankings.
5.2 Use social media to generate extra views
Promoting your videos on social media is an easy way to bring in some extra clicks and positive signals.
5.2.1 First, embed the video to your site
Important: Embed videos to your web page and promote your own URL instead of the actual YouTube page. This approach has two important benefits:
Avoid auto-plays: Don't screw up your YouTube stats! YouTube pages auto-play videos by default, so if you share a YouTube URL on Twitter, many people will click and immediately leave (social media users are mostly lurkers). However, if you share your page with the video embedded on it, it won't play until the user clicks to play. This way you'll ensure the video is played only by people who seriously want to watch it.
Invest time and effort into your own site promotion instead of marketing the youtube.com page: Promoting your own site URL with the video embedded on it, you can rest assured that more people will keep interacting with your brand rather than leave to watch other people's videos from YouTube suggested results.
There are also plenty of ways to embed YouTube videos naturally in your blog and offer more exposure. Look at some of these themes, for example, for ideas to display videos in ways that invite views and engagement.
5.2.2 Use tools to partially scale social media promotion
For better, easier social media exposure, consider these options:
Investing in paid social media ads, especially Facebook ads, as they work best for engagement
Use recurring tweets to scale video promotion. There are a few tools you can try, such as DrumUp. Schedule the same update to go live several times on your chosen social media channels, generating more YouTube views from each repeated share. This is especially helpful for Twitter, because the lifespan of a tweet is just several minutes (between two and ten minutes, depending on how active and engaged your Twitter audience is). With recurring tweets, you'll make sure that more of your followers see your update.
A project I co-founded, Viral Content Bee, can put your videos in front of niche influencers on the lookout for more content to share on their social media accounts.
5.3 Build playlists
By sorting your videos into playlists, you achieve two important goals:
Keeping your viewers engaged with your brand videos longer: Videos within one playlist keep playing on autopilot until stopped
Creating separate brand assets of their own: Playlist URLs are able to rank both in YouTube and Google search results, driving additional exposure to your videos and brand overall, as well as allowing you to control more of those search results:
Using playlists, you can also customize the look and feel of your YouTube channel more effectively to give your potential subscribers a glimpse into additional topics you cover:
Furthermore, by customizing the look of your YouTube channel, you transform it into a more effective landing page, highlighting important content that might otherwise get lost in the archives.
6. Monitor your progress
6.1 Topvisor
Topvisor is the only rank tracker I am aware of that monitors YouTube rankings. You'll have to create a new project for each of your videos (which is somewhat of a pain), but you can monitor multiple keywords you're targeting for each video. I always monitor my focus keyword, my brand name, and any other specific information I'm including in the video title (like location and the speaker's name):
6.2 YouTube Analytics
YouTube provides a good deal of insight into how your channel and each individual video is doing, allowing you to build on your past success.
You'll see traffic sources, i.e. where the views are coming from: suggested videos, YouTube search, external (traffic from websites and apps that embed your videos or link to them on YouTube), etc.
The number of times your videos were included in viewers' playlists, including favorites, for the selected date range, region, and other filters. This is equal to additions minus removals.
Average view duration for each video.
How many interactions (subscribers, likes, comments) every video brought.
You can see the stats for each individual video, as well as for each of your playlists.
6.3 Using a dashboard for the full picture
If you produce at least one video a month, you may want to set up a dashboard to get an overall picture of how your YouTube channel is growing.
Cyfe (disclaimer: as of recently, Cyfe is a content marketing client of mine) is a tool that offers a great way to keep you organized when it comes to tracking your stats across multiple platforms and assets. I have a separate dashboard there which I use to keep an eye on my YouTube channels.
Conclusion
Building a YouTube channel is hard work. You're likely to see little or no activity for weeks at a time, maybe even months after you start working on it. Don’t let this discourage you. It's a big platform with lots of opportunity, and if you keep working consistently, you'll see your views and engagement steadily growing.
Do you have a YouTube channel? What are you doing to build it up and increase its exposure? Let us know in the comments.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
xem them tai http://ift.tt/2o9GYfe A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence http://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence http://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence http://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence http://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence http://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence http://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence http://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence http://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence http://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence http://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm v�� địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence http://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence http://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence https://ift.tt/2DG2JX2 Bạn có thể xem thêm địa chỉ mua tai nghe không dây tại đây https://ift.tt/2mb4VST
0 notes
Text
A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Growing Your YouTube Presence
Posted by AnnSmarty
When was the last time you saw a video on YouTube? I bet you've seen one today. YouTube is too huge and too popular for marketers to ignore.
If you don't have a YouTube channel, now's the time to start one.
If you have a channel and you never got it off the ground, now's the time to take action.
This article will take you through the process of setting up your YouTube presence, listing steps, tools, and important tips to get you started and moving forward.
1. Define your goals
If your goal is to become a YouTube star, you might be a bit late to the party: it's really hard to get noticed these days — too competitive. Stardom will take years of hard work to achieve because of the number of channels users have to choose from.
Even back in 2014, when I was reading about YouTube celebrity bloggers, one quote really stood out to me:
“We think, if we were coming to YouTube today, it would be too hard. We couldn't do it.”
That’s not to say, however, that you cannot achieve other, more tangible goals on YouTube. It's an excellent venue for business owners and marketers.
Here are three achievable goals that make more sense than fame from a business perspective:
1.1. YouTube for reputation management
Here's one thing about reputation management on Google: You’re never finished.
Even if your reputation is fabulous and you love every single result that comes up in the SERPs for your business name, you may still want to publish more content around your brand.
The thing is, for reputation management purposes, the more navigational queries you can control, the better:
YouTube is the perfect platform for reputation management. YouTube videos rank incredibly well in Google, especially when it comes to low-competition navigational queries that include your brand name.
Furthermore, YouTube videos almost always get that rich snippet treatment (meaning that Google shows the video thumbnail, author, and length of the video in the SERPs). This means you can more easily attract attention to your video search result.
That being said, think about putting videos on YouTube that:
Give your product/service overview
Show happy customers
Visualize customer feedback (for example, visual testimonials beautifully collected and displayed in a video)
Offer a glimpse inside your team (show people behind the brand, publish videos from events or conferences, etc.)
1.2 YouTube videos for improved conversions
Videos improve conversions for a clear reason: They offer a low-effort way for your customer to see why they need your product. Over the years, there have been numerous case studies proving the point:
An older study (dating back to 2011) states that customers are 144% more likely to add products to a shopping cart after watching the product video
Around 1 in 3 millennials state they have bought a product directly as a result of watching a how-to video on it
This Animoto survey found that almost all the participants (96%) considered videos "helpful when making purchasing decisions online"
Wistia found that visitors who engage with a video are much more likely to convert than those who don't
That being said, YouTube is a perfect platform to host your video product overviews: it's free, it offers the additional benefit of ranking well in Google, and it provides additional exposure to your products through their huge community, allowing people to discover your business via native search and suggested videos.
1.3 YouTube for creating alternative traffic and exposure channels
YouTube has huge marketing potential that businesses in most niches just cannot afford to ignore: it serves as a great discovery engine.
Imagine your video being suggested next after your competitor's product review. Imagine your competitors' customers stumbling across your video comparison when searching for an alternative service on Youtube.
Just being there increases your chances of getting found.
Again, it's not easy to reach the YouTube Top 10, but for specific low-competition queries it's quite doable.
Note: To be able to build traffic from inside your YouTube videos, you need to build up your channel to 10,000 public overall views to qualify to become a YouTube partner. Once approved, you'll be able to add clickable links to your site from within your videos using cards and actually build up your own site traffic via video views.
2. Develop a video editorial calendar
As with any type of content, video content requires a lot of brainstorming, organizing, and planning.
My regular routine when it comes to creating an editorial calendar is as follows:
Start with keyword research
Use question research to come up with more specific ideas
Use seasonality to come up with timing for each piece of content
Allocate sufficient time for production and promotion
You can read about my exact editorial process here. Here's a sample of my content roadmap laying out a major content asset for each month of the year, based on keyword research and seasonality:
For keyword and question research I use Serpstat because they offer a unique clustering feature. For each keyword list you provide, they use the Google search results page to identify overlapping and similar URLs, evaluate how related different terms in your list are, and based on that, cluster them into groups.
This grouping makes content planning easier, allowing you to see the concepts behind keyword groups and put them into your roadmap based on seasonality or other factors that come into play (e.g. is there a slot/gap you need to fill? Are there company milestones or events coming up?).
Depending on how much video content you plan to create, you can set up a separate calendar or include videos in your overall editorial calendar.
When creating your roadmap, keep your goals in mind, as well. Some videos, such as testimonials and product reviews, won't be based on your keyword research but still need to be included in the roadmap.
3. Proceed to video production
Video production can be intimidating, especially if you have a modest budget, but these days it's much easier and more affordable than you'd imagine.
Keeping lower-budget campaigns in mind, here are few types of videos and tools you can try out:
3.1 In-house video production
You can actually handle much of your video production in-house without the need to set up a separate room or purchase expensive gadgets.
Here are a few ideas:
Put together high-quality explanatory videos using Animatron (starts at $15/month): Takes a day or so to get to know all the available tools and options, but after that the production goes quite smoothly
Create beautiful visual testimonials, promo videos, and visual takeaways using Animoto ($8/month): You don’t need much time to learn to use it; it's very easy and fun.
Create video tutorials using iMovie (free for Mac users): It will take you or your team about a week to properly figure out all its options, but you'll get there eventually.
Create video interviews with niche influencers using Blue Jeans (starts at $12.49/month)
Create (whiteboard) presentations using ClickMeeting (starts at $25/month): Host a webinar first, then use the video recording as a permanent brand asset. ClickMeeting will save your whiteboard notes and let you reuse them in your article. You can brand your room to show your logo and brand colors in the video. Record your entire presentation using presentation mode, then upload them to your channel.
3.2 How to affordably outsource video production
The most obvious option for outsourcing video production is a site like Fiverr. Searching its gigs will actually give you even more ideas as to what kinds of videos you might create. While you may get burned there a few times, don’t let it discourage you — there are plenty of creative people who can put together awesome videos for you.
Another great idea is to reach out to YouTube bloggers in your niche. Some of them will be happy to work for you, and as a bonus you'll be rewarded with additional exposure from their personal branding and social media channels.
I was able to find a great YouTube blogger to work for my client for as low as $75 per video; those videos were of top quality and upload-ready.
There's lots of talent out there: just spend a few weeks searching and reaching out!
4. Optimize each video page
When uploading your videos to YouTube, spend some time optimizing each one. Add ample content to each video page, including a detailed title, a detailed description (at least 300–500 characters), and a lot of tags.
Title of the video: Generally, a more eye-catching and detailed title including:
Your core term/focus keyword (if any)
Product name and your brand name
The speaker's name when applicable (for example, when you post interviews). This may include their other identifiable personal brand elements, such as their Twitter handle
Event name and hashtag (when applicable)
City, state, country (especially if you're managing a local business)
Description of the video: The full transcript of the video. This can be obtained via services such as Speechpad.
A good readable and eye-catching thumbnail: These can be created easily using a tool like Canva.
Use a checklist:
5. Generate clicks and engagement
Apart from basic keyword matching using video title and description, YouTube uses other video-specific metrics to determine how often the video should be suggested next to related videos and how high it should rank in search results.
Here's an example of how that might work:
The more people that view more than the first half of your video, the better. If more than 50% of all your video viewers watched more than 50% of the video, YouTube would assume your video is high quality, and so it could pop up in "suggested" results next to or at the end of other videos. (Please note: These numbers are examples, made up using my best judgment. No one knows the exact percentage points YouTube is using, but you get the general idea of how this works.)
That being said, driving "deep" views to your videos is crucial when it comes to getting the YouTube algorithm to favor you.
5.1 Create a clickable table of contents to drive people in
Your video description and/or the pinned comment should have a clickable table of contents to draw viewers into the video. This will improve deep views into the video, which are a crucial factor in YouTube rankings.
5.2 Use social media to generate extra views
Promoting your videos on social media is an easy way to bring in some extra clicks and positive signals.
5.2.1 First, embed the video to your site
Important: Embed videos to your web page and promote your own URL instead of the actual YouTube page. This approach has two important benefits:
Avoid auto-plays: Don't screw up your YouTube stats! YouTube pages auto-play videos by default, so if you share a YouTube URL on Twitter, many people will click and immediately leave (social media users are mostly lurkers). However, if you share your page with the video embedded on it, it won't play until the user clicks to play. This way you'll ensure the video is played only by people who seriously want to watch it.
Invest time and effort into your own site promotion instead of marketing the youtube.com page: Promoting your own site URL with the video embedded on it, you can rest assured that more people will keep interacting with your brand rather than leave to watch other people's videos from YouTube suggested results.
There are also plenty of ways to embed YouTube videos naturally in your blog and offer more exposure. Look at some of these themes, for example, for ideas to display videos in ways that invite views and engagement.
5.2.2 Use tools to partially scale social media promotion
For better, easier social media exposure, consider these options:
Investing in paid social media ads, especially Facebook ads, as they work best for engagement
Use recurring tweets to scale video promotion. There are a few tools you can try, such as DrumUp. Schedule the same update to go live several times on your chosen social media channels, generating more YouTube views from each repeated share. This is especially helpful for Twitter, because the lifespan of a tweet is just several minutes (between two and ten minutes, depending on how active and engaged your Twitter audience is). With recurring tweets, you'll make sure that more of your followers see your update.
A project I co-founded, Viral Content Bee, can put your videos in front of niche influencers on the lookout for more content to share on their social media accounts.
5.3 Build playlists
By sorting your videos into playlists, you achieve two important goals:
Keeping your viewers engaged with your brand videos longer: Videos within one playlist keep playing on autopilot until stopped
Creating separate brand assets of their own: Playlist URLs are able to rank both in YouTube and Google search results, driving additional exposure to your videos and brand overall, as well as allowing you to control more of those search results:
Using playlists, you can also customize the look and feel of your YouTube channel more effectively to give your potential subscribers a glimpse into additional topics you cover:
Furthermore, by customizing the look of your YouTube channel, you transform it into a more effective landing page, highlighting important content that might otherwise get lost in the archives.
6. Monitor your progress
6.1 Topvisor
Topvisor is the only rank tracker I am aware of that monitors YouTube rankings. You'll have to create a new project for each of your videos (which is somewhat of a pain), but you can monitor multiple keywords you're targeting for each video. I always monitor my focus keyword, my brand name, and any other specific information I'm including in the video title (like location and the speaker's name):
6.2 YouTube Analytics
YouTube provides a good deal of insight into how your channel and each individual video is doing, allowing you to build on your past success.
You'll see traffic sources, i.e. where the views are coming from: suggested videos, YouTube search, external (traffic from websites and apps that embed your videos or link to them on YouTube), etc.
The number of times your videos were included in viewers' playlists, including favorites, for the selected date range, region, and other filters. This is equal to additions minus removals.
Average view duration for each video.
How many interactions (subscribers, likes, comments) every video brought.
You can see the stats for each individual video, as well as for each of your playlists.
6.3 Using a dashboard for the full picture
If you produce at least one video a month, you may want to set up a dashboard to get an overall picture of how your YouTube channel is growing.
Cyfe (disclaimer: as of recently, Cyfe is a content marketing client of mine) is a tool that offers a great way to keep you organized when it comes to tracking your stats across multiple platforms and assets. I have a separate dashboard there which I use to keep an eye on my YouTube channels.
Conclusion
Building a YouTube channel is hard work. You're likely to see little or no activity for weeks at a time, maybe even months after you start working on it. Don’t let this discourage you. It's a big platform with lots of opportunity, and if you keep working consistently, you'll see your views and engagement steadily growing.
Do you have a YouTube channel? What are you doing to build it up and increase its exposure? Let us know in the comments.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
via Blogger http://ift.tt/2u1c0JX
#blogger #bloggingtips #bloggerlife #bloggersgetsocial #ontheblog #writersofinstagram #writingprompt #instapoetry #writerscommunity #writersofig #writersblock #writerlife #writtenword #instawriters #spilledink #wordgasm #creativewriting #poetsofinstagram #blackoutpoetry #poetsofig
0 notes
Last Seen Blogs
femalesexologist
The Health Capital
kazuchilove
fan...idol?? ALPACA
gammastudies
trying to overcome procrastination
mere-1717
Untitled
umudadokun
umudadokun